The Legends of Amber Drei
by Count Morningstar
Summary: A one-shot collection that serves as a sequel to Mewtwo Zwei. When Dr. Fuji created Amber Drei, he did not realize just what sort of terror he had unleashed upon the world. The stories that follow are the encounters that Amber has with the various characters of the Pokemon world as she goes on her quest to find the original Mewtwo.
1. The Clockwork Pokemon

**Introduction:** I know it's been a little while since I posted anything on this site. Besides the recent holiday season, the reason that I haven't been as active as I normally am is because my grandfather died late last month. Needless to say, that really threw me off my game. Of course that doesn't mean I haven't been writing. While I haven't even touched my current Sword Art Online story, _Clash of Queens_ for several weeks, I have been working on some stuff for this Pokemon AU of mine as a way of trying to deal with everything that's happened.

So submitted for your reading enjoyment is my very first attempt at a one-shot collection. What you're about to see is a series of connected short stories focusing on Amber Drei, the OC I created for an earlier Pokemon story, _Mewtwo Zwei_. If you haven't read that story yet, you might want to go back and do that now. I don't know who long this collection is going to be, and there are going to be at least one or two stories in this collection that will be divided into two or three parts, but this little side project of mine will hopefully be a good way for me to take a break every now and then from some of my larger story projects. One more thing I should probably mention right now is that the stories in this collection take place after my yet to be written Pokemon story, Reign of Silver.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon.

* * *

The Clockwork Pokemon

It was fairly early in the evening as Quinton Mercury entered his favorite bar in Saffron City. The twenty-six-year-old musician had returned to his home city six weeks before to catch up with his family and work on the rock opera he had spent the past few years trying to perfect. Quinton felt that he was finally very close to finishing his masterpiece, and due to the fact that he wasn't due to go back on tour with the rest of his band, Raging Thunder for a few more months, the blonde rock star was certain that he was finally going to get the thing finished. Quinton had spent practically the entire day trying to work on the finale of his musical and had decided that he needed to go out to recharge his batteries. He felt that his brain might blow a fuse if he didn't step away from his computer for a while.

After sitting at the bar and ordering a drink, Quinton began to look around the little tavern. The two big reasons that Quinton liked to frequent this particular bar were because it was quiet and because it was usually filled the kind of people who all seemed like they had a story to tell. As he looked around, Quinton spied a young woman in her early to mid twenties sitting at one of the tables by the window. She had long rather wavy green hair and grey eyes. The woman's outfit consisted of a sleeveless black shirt with tight black jeans, black boots, and a pair of fingerless black gloves. She also had a long black coat that was hanging over the back of her chair, and around the young woman's neck was an odd choker made of a dark-grey metal. Fitted into the front of this choker was a small blue marble-like stone.

Quinton had become especially interested in this young woman because she seemed like she could be a potential girlfriend. The blonde musician had not been on the dating scene for quite some time, due mainly to the tours with his band and the work on his rock opera. As soon as the bartender came back with his drink, Quinton decided to go over to the young lady's table and make his move.

"Hey there, beautiful," Quinton spoke in a suave manner, getting the green-haired girl's attention. "This other seat taken?"

"…If you are requesting permission to sit at this table, I suppose you may do so," the young woman answered.

"I don't think I've seen you around here before," Quinton remarked as he sat down. "But then it has been a while since I've been back in town. I'm Quinton Mercury, and you?"

"…Amber Drei," The young woman answered.

"That's a pretty unique name," Quinton noted. "You new to Saffron City? Because if you are, I'd be happy to show you around."

"I have been here five previous times," Amber answered. "I come back to this city periodically in the hopes of encountering a particular Pokemon. I've spent several months searching for this Pokemon and have had no success."

"Well, Saffron isn't exactly a hotspot for wild Pokemon," Quinton pointed out. "I mean you might find a stray Meowth or Rattata if you go down the right alley, but that's about it. What kind of Pokemon are you looking for exactly anyway?"

"A very unique one," Amber answered. "It's called Mewtwo. Have you heard of it?"

Quinton was somewhat taken aback by the name of the Pokemon that Amber had given him. He had heard of Mewtwo through small articles he had read online and through his friend and band mate, Bolt Hanson. Mewtwo was a genetically engineered Pokemon that according to rumors was created by the rather infamous scientist, Dr. Ichiro Fuji. Just why Amber was interested in finding Mewtwo though, Quinton could not begin to guess.

"Um… yeah, I've heard of Mewtwo," Quinton finally answered. "Why do you think you'd find that Pokemon here in Saffron though?"

"Not long ago, I encountered someone who has twice encountered Mewtwo," Amber explained. "My hope is that this city might be a location that Mewtwo likes to frequent. Tell me Quinton, do you have any information that might indicate if this theory of mine is correct?"

Quinton wasn't sure just how to answer Amber's question. He knew from his friend Bolt that Mewtwo was something of a friend to the city's gym leader, Sabrina, and thus was known to drop by Saffron from time to time to visit her. Amber's theory was indeed correct, but Quinton wasn't sure if he should tell her that. Before the musician could decide what sort of answer to give Amber though, four rather large men wearing black suits and sunglasses approached their table.

"Quinton Mercury?" one of the men spoke.

"Uh, yeah?" Quinton responded. "Can I help you gentlemen?"

The man who spoke before pulled out a gun. "You better come with us. Your lady friend comes too. We don't want her running to the cops. And one more thing, if you try anything funny…"

"Yeah, I get the picture," Quinton replied with a heavy sigh.

"Why should we comply with you gentlemen?" Amber asked rather indifferently.

"Because if ya don't, you and your boyfriend here are gonna come down with a real bad case of lead poisoning, dig it girlie?" another of the men answered.

"I see…" Amber responded. "Very well. We shall accompany you."

The four men led Quinton and Amber out of the bar and into the back of a black car with tinted windows parked out front. Once everyone was inside, the car drove off. Just where the car was going, Quinton couldn't tell because of the windows. The thing that really struck Quinton about the whole situation was how icy calm Amber appeared to be. Just about anyone else would be frightened by a gang of armed men suddenly showing up and forcing them into the back of a car going who knows where, but Amber did not seem to be afraid at all.

After what seemed like twenty minutes, the car finally stopped and one of the goons opened the door. As he got out, Quinton saw that they had arrived at a fairly large two-story on the very outskirts of the city. The four men led Quinton and Amber into the building.

"Would you jerks at least tell us what the hell this is all about?" Quinton asked as they stepped into the entry hall.

"You'll know soon enough," the first of the goons told him.

"Hello there, Mercury," a voice spoke.

Quinton looked, and standing at the foot of the stairs to the second floor was a young woman who appeared to be about seventeen. She had shoulder-length very dark-brown hair and orange eyes. Her outfit consisted of a black t-shirt with a grey vest and a short red skirt that ended well above the knee, along with a pair of black shoes with knee-high white socks.

Quinton immediately recognized the girl and let out a heavy sigh. "Vivian Chase. Well… this evening is certainly going to hell."

"I'm not exactly fond of seeing you either," Vivian told him. "Now that you're here though, just what did you and that rock star friend of yours do to break my brother's brain?"

"You know this girl, Quinton?" Amber asked.

"Unfortunately," Quinton answered. "It's a long story, but Vivian's older brother, Richter was once engaged to the girl who's now the wife of one of my best friends."

"I'll ask you one more time, Mercury," Vivian spoke as she came further down the stairs. "What the hell did you do to my brother? He's in a nuthouse right now with no memory of that tramp, Christine and a few other problems. And I know you and those friends of yours had something to do with it!"

"Yeah, well… you are right about that," Quinton admitted as he rubbed the back of his head. "What happened to Richter though was something of an accident, not that he didn't have it coming though."

"Just answer me already, dammit!" Vivian ordered.

"It's actually a long and pretty unbelievable story," Quinton told her. "You ever hear of a Pokemon called Jirachi?"

"That's enough, Vivian," a voice interrupted. "I did not bring young Mr. Mercury here to answer for what happened to your brother."

Quinton turned his head to see a man in a wheelchair being brought into the room by an aging butler. The man appeared to be in his mid fifties and had somewhat long black hair that covered one of his eyes and a thick mustache. His outfit was a grey suit with a yellow shirt and red tie. The man's complexion was extremely pale, and a brown blanket covered his legs. A small green oxygen tank was attached to the side of his wheelchair.

"So, I get the honor of seeing Anthony Chase as well," Quinton spoke

"It's good to see you, Quinton," Anthony responded. "I think the last time I saw you was when you were about nine and I tried making that business deal with your father. It's a shame he turned me down. We could've done great things together, he and I."

"There's no way in hell that my dad would get involved in the kind of business that you're in," Quinton told him.

"Dad, aren't you going to make that son of a bitch and his friends answer for what they did to Richter?" Vivian asked Antony.

"You'll have to forgive my daughter, Quinton," Anthony told him. "She and Richter were of course quite close. Of course while what happened to my son is a tragedy, I feel it serves him right for getting so hung up over that girl. While Richter's marriage to Christine Wyler would've meant great things for both her father and myself, in the end it was still just a business deal. And sometimes deals just fall through. I have no plans to retaliate against you or your friends for whatever happened."

"Good to know," Quinton replied. "But if this isn't about Richter, why'd you drag me out to this place?"

"We'll discuss that in the drawing room," Antony told him. "Vivian, you may as well join us too."

In a few moments, Quinton and the others were in the drawing room of the mansion. Quinton and Amber sat down on the couch a space apart. Anthony's butler wheeled him over to an empty space behind the coffee table so that he could look directly at Quinton.

"Now Quinton my boy, I assume that you've heard of a Pokemon called Magearna," Anthony began.

"Yeah I have. My granddad was obsessed with that Pokemon," Quinton revealed. "I have to admit I've always been pretty fascinated by it myself."

"You brought him here just because you wanted to ask him about some random Pokemon I've never even heard of?" an outraged Vivian asked. "Just what the hell is a Magearna, anyway?"

"Magearna is a mechanical Pokemon that's said to have been created approximately five hundred years ago by an inventor whose genius was far ahead of his time," Amber answered. "Why are you interested in this Pokemon, Mr. Chase?"

"Hey Marty, who's the girl?" Anthony asked one of the goons.

"She was with Mercury at the bar when we went to nab him, boss," The first of the goons answered. "We just figured she was his date or something. We didn't want her running to the cops, so we just took her too."

"I see…" Anthony responded. "Well my dear, to answer your question, I'm interested in Magearna because I want to give a final gift to my daughter. As you've probably figured out, and as I'm sure Quinton already knows, I'm not long for this world. This damn illness I have is starting to take its toll. The doctors say I have about four months left in me at the most."

"I hate it when you talk about that stuff," Vivian spoke.

"I want to leave my daughter something very special before I finally go from this world," Anthony continued. "What better gift to leave her with than Magearna? After all, the legends say that Magearna's inventor made to present as a gift to a king's daughter."

"What's all of this have to do with me?" Quinton asked.

At this, Anthony reached into his jacket and pulled out a small notebook bound in black leather that he tossed onto the coffee table. "Recognize this?"

Quinton picked up the book. "This is my granddad's journal. Last I saw this was in the attic of my family's mansion! Where the hell did you get this?"

"My men and I paid a visit to your father earlier and found it," Anthony revealed. "As you know, this journal contains every piece of research that your late grandfather did on Magearna. The journal also includes a detailed map to the inventor's workshop, the one place in the world where Magearna might be found."

"I know. I probably asked granddad to show me that map at least a hundred times," Quinton told him. "But the map doesn't have any names! We don't even know what region the workshop is supposed to be in."

"That, my dear boy has changed," Anthony revealed with a slight chuckle. His laugh turned into a coughing fit and he was forced to use the breathing mask attached to the tank on his chair. When Anthony's breathing finally calmed, he resumed. "My people… looked closely at the map and found that its starting point is a small town in the Kalos Region. It was once the capital of a small kingdom five hundred years ago that no longer exists. From there, we can find the inventor's lab."

"Okay, then why do you need me?" Quinton asked.

"Because the entrance to the inventor's laboratory is hidden," Anthony answered. "Your grandfather's research states that the inventor was afraid that his creations would fall into the wrong hands. Fortunately for us, the old scientist left a clue to where to find the entrance to the lab shortly before his death, along with instructions on how to open the door. There's apparently a sort of elaborate combination lock that will trigger bombs to destroy the lab if the wrong combination is put in."

"Well I have no idea what this combination would be," Quinton told him.

"No, but your grandfather figured it out," Anthony replied. "He wrote the secret down in the back of that journal of his, apparently not long before he died."

"I've looked through this thing thousands of time, and granddad didn't write down anything like that," Quinton told him.

At this, Anthony laughed, only to trigger another coughing fit that he quickly relieved with his breathing mask. "Yes, I'm sure that you never found anything like that before, but there were several blank pages towards the back of the book, right? Take a look at those pages now, boy."

Frowning, Quinton flipped opened the leather bound notebook to the pages towards the back. To the musician's surprise, there was writing on pages that didn't have any writing on them before.

"I knew your grandfather a little bit, you know," Anthony revealed. "He had a reputation for being quite crafty. When I got hold of that little notebook and saw those empty pages, I wondered if perhaps they weren't as blank as they appeared to be."

"Invisible ink," Quinton realized.

Anthony nodded as a wide grin came to his face. "You'll note that there's a little message just for you on that first page. Obviously your grandfather intended for you to cover this secret. It goes on to say that he found out the combination for the lock hidden in the inventor's old writings. Unfortunately, your grandfather wrote down the door's location and the lock combination in some sort of code that only you and he could decipher."

"We came up with that code together when I was just a kid," Quinton recalled. "He and I would use it for secret messages we'd send to each other."

"How touching," Anthony remarked somewhat indifferently. "Well my boy, that code of yours is now the only thing standing between me and my parting gift to my daughter. You're going to decipher it for me."

"And what if I refuse?" Quinton asked.

"Then your little sister's life will be cut unexpectedly short, and perhaps your father's life too," Anthony warned. "Oh don't worry. I don't have either of them locked away in a little room somewhere. But I do have a man on each of them, watching every move they make. One little phone call from me, and you'll suddenly become both an orphan and an only child. Get the picture, my boy?"

"Yeah… I get it," Quinton answered. "Okay Mr. Chase. You win. I'll help you get into that damn lab."

"You're a bright boy, Quinton. I knew you'd see things my way," Anthony told him. "I've already arranged for my jet to take us to Kalos first thing in the morning. In the meantime, a room here has been prepared for you and your lady friend so that you can stay the night. I don't think I need to tell you what will happen if either of you tries to leave."

With that, Marty escorted Quinton and Amber out of the drawing room and up the stairs to one of the spare bedrooms on the second floor. The room was somewhat large and had a large window overlooking the city, along with a queen-sized bed covered in red sheets.

As soon as Marty shut and locked the door to the room behind them, Quinton went over to sit on the end of the bed. "Dammit! I'm sorry I got you dragged into all this, Amber."

"There's no need to apologize," Amber assured him as she took off her coat and tossed it onto a wooden chair by the door. "This encounter had actually proven to be quite interesting. It seems I now have an opportunity to find the legendary Magearna."

"Man. First Mewtwo, and now Magearna? You seem to have an interest in artificially created Pokemon." Quinton observed.

"Let's just say that I have a rather unique understanding of those Pokemon," Amber told him. "You seem quite interested in artificial Pokemon as well."

"Well yeah. Pokemon like that are testaments to human ingenuity," Quinton declared. "They show us that people can do just about anything if they put their minds to it."

"But is that all artificial Pokemon are to you?" Amber asked. "Are they nothing more than objects that demonstrate human genius?"

"Uh… if you're asking if I think Pokemon like that aren't living things, nothing could be further from the truth," Quinton assured her. "My very first Pokemon was a Porygon. It's since evolved into a Porygon-Z, and it's still one of my most trusted Pokemon. What I'm trying to say is that I've never thought as some lifeless computer program brought into the real world. That Pokemon is one of my best friends."

A small smirk formed on Amber's face. "You're an interesting person, Quinton Mercury."

"Thanks. You're pretty interesting yourself," Quinton replied.

"Tell me… when you approached me in the bar, your intention was to somehow get me to have a sexual encounter with you, wasn't it?" Amber assumed.

Quinton's face turned a deep shade of red. "Uh… um, well… actually I was thinking we'd start with dinner and go from there, but… you know…"

"This room does seem to be the optimal environment for such an encounter," Amber observed. "And we are going to be here for the remainder of the night."

"Well… yeah, but then this isn't exactly the right time for that sort of thing," Quinton pointed out. "I mean we're under armed guard inside a mansion owned by an infamous crime lord, and…"

Before Quinton could finish his sentence, Amber removed her shirt and tossed it over towards the chair where her coat was. After taking off her shirt, Amber's long green hair tumbled down to cover her naked breasts.

Quinton's pants suddenly became uncomfortably tight. "On the other hand, I'm sure we both need to relieve some stress right now."

* * *

It was early in the afternoon by the time Anthony's jet finally landed in Kalos. A group of cars was waiting to take Anthony and his party, which included his butler and the four goons that had abducted Quinton and Amber the night before, to the small town that was the starting point on the map. Quinton had ended up in the same car as Amber, Marty and Vivian, who had insisted on coming along on the trip to make personally sure that her father would be okay and that Quinton wouldn't try any tricks. During the ride over to the town, Quinton had been forced to go to work on decoding the final pages of his grandfather's journal. It disgusted Quinton to have to decrypt the journal for someone like Anthony Chase, for it would've been the last thing that his grandfather had wanted.

It was another hour before the vehicles reached the town. When they arrived, Anthony ordered his vehicles to head for a dense forest located to the north of the town about twenty miles away. Once the vehicles reached the forest, the group disembarked from them to enter the forest on foot. It would've been impossible for them to go further otherwise. Anthony was placed in a sophisticated hover chair that he had ordered to be built especially for this part of the journey.

The group spent at least another three hours trekking through the forest until finally reaching the side of a large mountain. In the center of a mountain wall were three small circular indentations arranged like the points of a triangle. The indentations did not seem to be at all like natural formations in the rock.

"Alright Quinton my boy, it's up to you now," Anthony told him. "And don't forget, this satellite phone I have here works perfectly well inside this forest."

Quinton reluctantly went over to the rock face and consulted the decrypted information from his grandfather's journal. Picking up a nearby stick that was lying on the ground, the blonde musician pushed the tip of the stick into the lower right indentation twice. Then Quinton inserted the stick into lower left indentation in the rock once, and then used the tool to prod the top indentation three times. The face of the rock with the indentations suddenly moved inward and to the right, revealing a mechanical control panel behind it. The control panel resembled the type of combination lock used on old briefcases; only it had six rollers with numbers on them instead of four.

Checking his decryption closely, Quinton slowly began to enter the combination to the lock. He knew that the slightest mistake could cause the entire lab to explode. Once Quinton entered the final number, the ground shook and part of the mountainside slid aside to reveal a long dark tunnel lined with steel piping going into the earth.

"Well done, Quinton," Anthony praised. "I knew you wouldn't let me down."

"We came all the way to this damn forest just for this?" an annoyed Vivian asked.

"Patience, daughter. The real prize lies somewhere at the end of this tunnel," Anthony told her.

"It had better," Vivian declared.

"Let's all go inside, shall we?" Anthony decided.

Quinton and Amber were forced by Marty to go along at gunpoint as Anthony and the rest of the party went into the tunnel. After a few moments of walking, the group reached an intersection in the tunnel that went off to the left and the right as well as straight-ahead. As they continued to walk on, Quinton glanced down at the side of the wall and noticed a rusted knob for some kind of valve towards the floor. When they got close enough to it, Quinton kicked the knob, breaking it off and causing a blast of steam to hit Marty in the face. With Anthony's goon knocked off guard, Quinton grabbed Amber by the arm and dragged her off down the tunnel to the left.

"Dammit!" Marty cursed. "That punk's gonna get it now!"

"My phone… it's gone!" Anthony noticed. "And I had it right in my hand."

"How the hell did he get ahold of it?" Vivian asked.

"It doesn't matter. We don't really need Mr. Mercury for this part of the journey anyway." Anthony decided. "Now come! Our prize is still somewhere ahead."

* * *

Quinton and Amber were walking aimlessly through the darkened tunnels of the lab. Just where it was they were heading, neither of them could say. The inventor's lab was proving to me more of a labyrinth than Quinton had expected.

"Sorry for grabbing you like that back there," Quinton told Amber. "I just needed for us to get away from those guys."

"It's quite all right, Quinton," Amber assured him. "I think I understand your motivations."

"I know that Anthony Chase says that he only wants to give his daughter a gift before he dies, I know there's got to be a lot more to it than that," Quinton told her. "I know this family pretty well, and all of them are messed up. Whatever Anthony really has planned, I can't just stand by and let him take Magearna. Of course… I'm worried that by doing this, I just put my dad and little sister in real danger."

"That should no longer be an issue," Amber revealed as she held up Anthony's phone.

"How the hell did you manage to grab that?" Quinton asked.

"Does it matter?" Amber responded.

"…Nah, I guess not," Quinton answered. "You're pretty amazing, you know that? I don't think I've ever met anyone like you before."

"Nor have I met anyone like you before either," Amber replied.

"Um… by the way, you were pretty amazing last night too," Quinton told her. "That was probably the best sex I've had in a long time."

"I'm glad I could satisfy you," Amber responded.

As they continued to try and navigate the labyrinth of tunnels, Quinton couldn't help but think about how unique Amber was. She was always so calm and collected, even when someone was holding her at gunpoint. There was also something quite strange about Amber… and something quite familiar about her to Quinton that he just couldn't quite place. Somewhere along the line, Quinton suddenly felt like he had seen Amber's face before. It was like a face he had seen many years earlier, but couldn't quite place.

Quinton and Amber eventually took another turn and found themselves in a small pitch-black room. Fumbling around the edge of the door, Quinton found what felt like a large switch. The blonde flipped the switch, and suddenly a series of torches built into the walls inside glass jars lit up on their own. At the far side of the room on the floor was a fairly large metal sphere that almost looked like an oversized pokeball.

As Quinton and Amber approached the ball, the very top of it suddenly sprang open. Extending up from the top of the sphere was the upper body of a robot with an almost completely spherical head with a slight point towards the back. The machine's face consisted of two glowing pink ovular eyes with gold frames that had two prongs extending upward almost like eyelashes, along with a small nose and mouth. A large incomplete gear with seven teeth rimed the robot's face almost like a maid's bonnet, and it had a pair of rabbit-like ears that were really the two sections of the disc that made up the very top of the ball that its body had popped out of. The mechanical creature's spherical torso had two light-blue sections on the front designed to look like a pokeball, and in the very center of its chest was a circular indentation that was half blue and half pink. It had two spherical shoulders that each had an almost claw-like arm. The very bottom of the sphere that the robot had emerged from opened up to reveal a pair of stilt-like legs, making the original sphere look like the skirt of a ball gown.

"Holy crap! We actually just found Magearna!" Quinton realized. "Well… looks like it's time to use my secret weapon."

As Magearna cautiously hopped towards Quinton and Amber, Quinton reached into the pocket of his white jacket and pulled out a unique pokeball that was purple on top and had two pink circles, along with a small white M above the button on the front. The musician threw the ball at Magearna, hitting the mechanical Pokemon in the face. Magearna was sucked inside and the ball dropped to the ground. After jiggling on the ground for a few moments, the pokeball made the noise that signaled a completed capture.

"Never thought I'd actually use this Master Ball that dad gave me years ago," Quinton remarked as he walked over and picked up the pokeball. "Another one of the perks to being the son of the Silph Co president just came in handy."

Suddenly Marty burst into the room and pressed his gun into Amber's back. "Alright ya damn punk! You're fun's over! If it were up to me, I'd blow you and your girlfriend away right now, but the boss wants me to take you to him. I suggest you come with, otherwise your babe is toast."

"Fine. Lead the way," Quinton replied as he quickly pocketed Magearna's pokeball. "I'd like to have a word with him."

With that, Quinton and Amber went with Marty back into the labyrinth of the inventor's lab. A few minutes later they arrived back at the original corridor that they had been traveling down when they first entered the hidden lab. After another few moments of walking, Quinton and the others reached a chamber with a domed ceiling. Quinton looked around and saw various pieces of ancient machinery far ahead of their time scattered all over the room, including something that looked like a large mechanical arm, and something towards the back that to Quinton almost looked like a death ray. Anthony at that moment was waiting with Vivian in front of a large glass dome filled with a white mist.

"Ah! Good of you to rejoin us, Quinton," Anthony spoke. "I wouldn't want to deny you the pleasure of this moment."

"This moment you're talking about may not turn out like you expected, Anthony," Quinton declared with a confident smirk.

"Indeed. Giles! Open that container!" Anthony commanded.

At that moment Anthony's butler, who was behind one of the control panels in the room, nodded and pressed a button. Soon after, the glass of the dome Anthony and Vivian were in front of suddenly shattered. The mist that was inside the dome cleared to reveal another metal sphere almost identical to the one that turned out to be Magearna, only it was red on top and white on the bottom like an actual pokeball. The sphere opened and transformed into another Magearna that was mostly gold in color.

"No way!" a stunned Quinton exclaimed.

"Your reaction is understandable, my boy," Anthony responded. "I never expected to find Magearna in such pristine condition. It appears that our fabled inventor never actually got around to presenting the Pokemon as a gift to the king's daughter."

Quinton was absolutely shocked that there was a second Magearna. He quickly reasoned that the inventor had probably built the second one sometime before abandoning the lab but never awakened it for an unknown reason, perhaps to keep both it and his original creation from falling into the wrong hands. Meanwhile, the gold Magearna quickly went over to where Vivian was and started to hug her. Disgusted, Vivian kicked the mechanical Pokemon away.

"Hey!" Quinton protested.

"Dad, you really brought me all the way here some damn toy?" Vivian asked.

"Not at all, child. It's what's inside this little toy that's the prize we came for," Anthony told her. "Now Giles!"

Giles nodded and began to work a few more switches on his control panel. Suddenly the ancient mechanical arm in the room came down and grabbed onto the gold Magearna's torso just as she had gotten back up. The robotic Pokemon was lifted into the air by the arm, and suddenly four small prongs extended from the palm of the arm's claw and push into the gold Magearna's chest, causing her to cry out in pain.

"What the hell are you doing?" Quinton demanded to know.

"Extracting the Soul Heart, the mechanism that powers that little marionette," Anthony explained. "You see that large device towards the back of the room there? That machine is a weapon of unimaginable destructive power that uses the Soul Heart as a battery. I discovered the existence of that device during my own research into Magearna. It's that very weapon that's the true gift I intend to leave my daughter! With that weapon, she can totally rebuild the fallen Team Rocket from the ground up and become a queen!"

"I see. So that Pokemon is nothing but a disposable tool to you," Amber coldly observed.

"But of course! Pokemon are nothing more than simple beasts of burden that humanity has built the foundation of our society upon!" Anthony declared. "If one Pokemon should parish in the service of its masters, a thousand more can take its place!"

"So you view all Pokemon as disposable and not just the artificial ones," Amber observed. "How interesting. However, I think I've let this continue on long enough."

Amber's eyes glowed blue, and suddenly the mechanical claw holding the gold Magearna shattered apart. Before the gold robot could drop to the ground, Amber threw a Master Ball that struck the Pokemon in the side of the head. The gold Magearna was sucked inside and the ball dropped to the ground, jiggling on the floor for a few moments before making the sound that signaled a completed capture. The pokeball glowed with a blue aura and flew back to Amber's open hand.

"Alright bitch! Hand over that pokeball right now!" Marty ordered as he and the other three goons took aim at her.

"Your weapons are useless against me," Amber declared.

Suddenly the guns being used by the four goons glowed with a blue aura and were ripped from their hands into the air. Quinton and the others watched in amazement as the guns were crushed into a large metal ball before dropping to the ground.

"How… you're a psychic?" Quinton realized.

"Among other things," Amber confirmed.

With a wave of Amber's hand, Marty and the other goons were flung into the walls of the room with enough force to knock them out. Amber looked towards Giles, causing the butler to be knocked into the wall by an invisible force as well. Then with a wave of her arm, Amber used her powers to lift Anthony out of his chair and levitate him towards her.

"Perhaps I should break you the way you tried to break that Magearna," Amber suggested. "You are nearly dead anyway."

"Whoa! Hey Amber? I get where you're coming from, but this is a little too over the top!" Quinton told her.

"Put my dad down, you bitch!" Vivian ordered. "He may not be perfect, but he's the only family I really have left! Now let him go!"

"Or else what?" Amber asked.

Vivian threw out a pokeball that was hanging from her belt. "Go Purugly!"

Bursting out of Vivian's pokeball was a very large overweight cat with large ears and a curly tail. Much of its fur was blue-grey, though parts of its face, chest, back, and the tip of its tail were white. The tips of its large ears were purple, and the ends of the four whiskers on its face were crooked.

Amber dropped Anthony to the ground with a wave of her hand and took out a pokeball from the pocket of her coat. "Go Sentry!"

Emerging from Amber's ball was a blue nine-foot-tall robot resembling an ancient suit of armor. It had a spherical torso with a diagonal crack across the front that glowed with an eerie yellow light and was held closed by a sort of brown bandage. At the robot's waist was very short Roman-style skirt armor, and on its wrists and ankles were brown bands. On the front of its shoulder and the back of its hands were glowing yellow swirls.

"A Golurk, huh?" Vivian identified. "That big clunker of yours has nothing on my darling Purugly! Use Shadow Claw!"

"Heavy Slam," Amber commanded.

Purugly dashed across the battlefield towards Sentry and jumped high into the air. The feline Pokemon raised her front right leg and a massive set of shadowy claws extended from her paw to slash Sentry in the chest. The ancient robot staggered backward a couple of steps but quickly recovered and charged at its opponent as its body began to give off an eerie yellow aura. Sentry tackled Purugly to the ground with enough force to make a crater in the floor of the lab. After a few moments, Sentry got up off of a seemingly unconscious Purugly, but after a few moments the large feline got back to her feet.

"Not good enough! Purugly, use Shadow Ball!" Vivian commanded.

"Ice Punch," Amber ordered.

Purugly opened her mouth and a ball of crackling black energy formed in front of her face. When the ball got large enough, Purugly fired the ball of energy across the field at Sentry, hitting the ancient robot in the chest. Sentry staggered back a step, but managed to remain standing. The ghostly machine then charged at Purugly again and swung down its right fist towards the feline as it became covered in an icy mist. Purugly was hit in the face and flung back at least five feet as her front half became covered in ice. The ice soon shattered though and Purugly was still on her feet.

"I've had just about enough of you!" Vivian declared. "Purugly! Use Hone Claws followed by Shadow Claw!"

Purugly's front paws began to glow with a red light as she jumped up high into the air. With a swipe of her right paw, the feline Pokemon launched a set of large shadowy claws that slashed Sentry in the chest. The ancient robot staggered backward a few steps before finally toppling onto its back with a loud thud.

"You're much stronger than I expected," Amber remarked as she called back her unconscious Pokemon. "However, you are still no match for me. Go Tron!"

Bursting from Amber's thrown pokeball with a flash of stars was a strange hummingbird-like creature that was primarily electric blue in color. Its beak along with its tail and the wing-like attachments on the sides of its body were light blue, and it had a light blue V-shaped band on its chest. The creature's head was detached from the rest of its body, and had two large crazed-looking yellow eyes along with a growth on the top of its head that looked like it once could've been a neck.

"A shiny Porygon-Z?" Quinton identified.

"Use Psybeam!" Amber commanded.

Tron fired twin beams of multicolored light from its crazed down at Purugly, hitting her in the chest. Upon being hit, Purugly fell to her side and was unconscious.

"My Porygon-Z was traded away by its original trainer because they thought it was weak," Amber remarked as Vivian called back Purugly. "I have just proven them wrong."

"So now what, you freaky bitch?" Vivian asked.

"Now I shall continue with what I started," Amber answered.

Amber's eyes glowed again, and with a wave of her hand Vivian was flung back into the wall behind her, knocking the brown-haired girl out cold. The green-haired woman then turned her attention back to Anthony and lifted him back into the air.

"You… vile monster!" Anthony spoke. "I don't what you are, but I will make you pay for all of this!"

"You cannot even touch me," Amber coldly told him.

"Hold it, Amber!" Quinton interrupted. "This has to stop."

"Quinton…" Amber spoke as she let Anthony drop back to the ground. "Are you actually defending these people?"

"I'm not defending what they did here, but Amber… this is just too much!" Quinton told her. "And I can't just stand by and let you use your powers to beat someone to a pulp, even if it is someone like Anthony Chase!"

"I see… then come at me with all you have," Amber dared.

Quinton reluctantly took a pokeball from his belt. "Come on out, Chrome!"

Bursting out of Quinton's pokeball was a large silver metallic creature with a saucer-like body with four long legs. On the front of its body were two red eyes and a large gold X. Its legs were thicker and longer towards the bottom and tipped with golden claws. Around the metal creature's front right leg was an ornate metal band with a spherical blue gemstone embedded in it.

"A Metagross," Amber identified. "And it's equipped with a Mega Stone. In that case, there's only one Pokemon for me to use." With that, she called back Tron and took out another pokeball. "Go… Zwei!"

Bursting out of ball was a six-foot-tall bipedal feline that was purplish-grey in color. Its stomach and tail were purple and it had a cord-like growth on the back of its neck. The creature's eyes were purple, and around its midsection was a silver object that looked like a championship belt. Fitted into the rectangular front piece of the belt was a large round pinkish stone.

"No way!" Quinton exclaimed. "That's… Mewtwo?"

"I was wondering if you were ever going to send me out, Amber," a female voice spoke inside Quinton's head.

"I'm sorry, Zwei. I needed to let this situation play out," Amber told the feline. "Besides, I was in no real danger."

"Wait a sec… you're not the Mewtwo I've heard about!" Quinton realized. "You're a second Mewtwo!"

"You're very sharp, Quinton," Amber praised. "Zwei is the second Mewtwo that Dr. Fuji created."

"Zwei… and Drei…" Quinton spoke as another realization suddenly hit him. "You're a clone too, aren't you Amber?"

"That's right. I am Dr. Fuji's second attempt the clone his daughter," Amber confirmed. "The original Amber."

Quinton then finally remembered just where he had seen Amber's face before. Years ago while traveling through Kanto with his friend, Bolt Hanson, Quinton had visited the house of Dr. Ichiro Fuji, which at the time was being used as the Cinnabar Island Gym. While exploring the house, Quinton and his friends had found a picture of a young girl with long green hair, a picture that turned out to be of Dr. Fuji's daughter. The young woman standing before him was obviously much older physically, but Quinton could tell that the girl in that old picture was a dead ringer for Amber.

"Holy crap!" Quinton exclaimed.

"Do you look at me differently now that you know I'm a clone?" Amber asked.

"Well… you have to admit that it's a lot to take in," Quinton pointed out. "It isn't every day that a guy finds out the girl he had a fling with the night before is actually a clone with psychic powers."

"Do you still intend to stand against us?" Amber asked.

"…Yeah, but not because of what you are," Quinton told her. "It's because of what you want to do! Okay Chrome! Attack that Mewtwo with Meteor Mash!"

The marble-like stone embedded in the thick black bracelet on Quinton's wrist began to glow, and in the same instant the stone on Chrome's leg began to shine as well before its entire body gave off a dazzling explosion of blue light. In moments the light faded and Chrome had taken on a new form. It now floated in the air and its legs had moved on its body so that they pointed forward. The end of each leg had gained three large golden claws. Its back end had gained additional limbs that resembled thrusters, making the metal Pokemon look like some kind of spacecraft. The gold X on the front of its face had turned blue and had gained points on the ends. A multicolored light in the form of a DNA strand glowed briefly above Chrome before suddenly vanishing.

Chrome flew across the battlefield towards Zwei. As the starship Pokemon came in range of its target, its claws began to glow and its body began to give off a mist-like multicolored aura. Chrome rammed into Zwei's chest, knocking the psychic feline back into the wall behind Amber with enough force to make a small impact crater.

"Not bad," Zwei admitted as she flew away from the wall. "Still, you and your Metagross cannot hope to come even close to the power that Amber and I possess."

"Witness our true strength!" Amber declared as the stone embedded in her metal chocker began to glow.

In the same instant, the stone embedded in the front of Zwei's belt was glowing as well. In seconds Zwei's entire body began to glow with a pink light and change shape. At the very start of the feline Pokemon's transformation, the light coming from her body gave off a flash resembling a Y. The light soon faded and a multicolored light resembling a DNA strand appeared momentarily above Zwei's head just as what had happened with Chrome when he had transformed. In a few moments, the multicolored light vanished.

Zwei's body had become shorter and the tube on the back of her neck had disappeared. Her limbs had taken on a more mechanical appearance, with her fingers and toes becoming purple. Her otherwise smooth chest had a bump in the center resembling some kind of bone, and the psychic feline's tail had disappeared. Her ear-like horns had become more pointed and were connected at the base by a half ring-shaped growth that went over her head. Zwei's eyes had changed from purple to red, and growing from the back of her head was a long tail-like appendage that extended down past her legs and had a curled tip.

"You've gotta be kidding!" Quinton exclaimed. "A Mewtwo that can Mega Evolve?"

"Shadow Ball!" Zwei and Amber called out together as a ball of crackling black energy formed between Zwei's hands.

When the ball became large enough, Zwei hurled the ball across the field at Chrome. The spaceship Pokemon was hit in the face by the attack and knocked back several feet, but somehow managed to remain airborne.

"Damn!" Quinton cursed. "Okay… just hang in there, Chrome! Use Thunder Punch!"

Chrome flew back across the lab as the claws on its upper right arm began to crackle with yellow electricity. The starship Pokemon swung its electrified claws at Zwei when it came in range, but the psychic feline swiftly avoided the attack, leaving a trail of afterimages in her wake. Zwei then formed another Shadow Ball attack and fired it at Chrome, hitting the metal Pokemon in its left side. Chrome wobbled a bit upon being hit, but managed to remain in the air.

"You waste your time, Quinton!" Zwei and Amber declared. "We have enough power to make even the gods of this world fall before us! Your Metagross may be strong, but even in its Mega Evolved state it cannot overcome our power!"

Suddenly Zwei spread her arms and a swirling ball of purple energy started to form in front of her. In a matter of seconds, the ball grew to four times the size of Zwei's body.

"Oh… crap!" Quinton exclaimed.

"Psystrike!" Zwei and Amber called out as the feline brought her arms together.

The ball of energy flew across the lab and hit struck Chrome, exploding with a blast of white light. Quinton hit the ground as the explosion radiated outward. The blast was so powerful that it blew a gigantic hole inside the lab wall. Once the smoke finally cleared, Quinton got up to find that Chrome had returned to its original form and was on the ground out cold. Zwei had returned to her original form as well. Upon looking around, Quinton was relieved to see that Vivian, Anthony and all the others seemed to be okay.

"Perhaps we went a bit overboard this time, Amber," Zwei observed.

"Indeed. I apologize, Quinton," Amber told him. "I guess Zwei and I can't control ourselves sometimes."

"Yeah… I can see that," Quinton responded as he called Chrome back to its ball. "So what happens now? You just gonna crush me to a pulp like you plan to do with Anthony Chase and all the others?"

"No… they will at least be given a chance," Amber answered. "But Zwei and I are going to destroy this lab. Whether or not they survive will be up to fate. As for you, I'm going to send you far away from here."

"Well, I'm glad you aren't going to lump me together with the rest of these guys," Quinton remarked.

"You're very unique, Quinton," Amber told him. "I've never encountered another human like you before. I really hope we meet again someday."

Suddenly Quinton saw a blue light surround him and felt his body being pulled through space. A few moments later the light faded, and Quinton found that he was back in the town that had been the starting point of the ill-fated journey to the lab. A few seconds later, the keyboardist heard a loud explosion in the distance. Turning around, Quinton saw only a massive cloud of dust where a mountain once used to be. Feeling overwhelmed by everything that just happened, Quinton sat down on a large rock by the side of the road. Reaching into the pocket of his jacket, Quinton pulled out Magearna's pokeball and threw it into the air. The mechanical Pokemon burst out of the ball and turned to face the blonde musician.

"Hey there. Sorry if I scared you before," Quinton told Magearna. "You okay?"

Magearna merely looked around and saw a bunch of pink flowers growing by the rock Quinton was sitting on. The robotic Pokemon and picked the flowers to present to Quinton.

"Well thanks, Maggie," Quinton told Magearna. "Hey… that could be your nickname. What do you think?"

Magearna looked at Quinton for a few moments before finally nodding in agreement.

"Hah… boy! My granddad would just flip if he could see you," Quinton remarked as he patted Maggie on the head.

Suddenly Quinton heard his phone start to ring. The blonde musician reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out the phone to see Bolt Hanson's name on the Caller I.D.

Quinton sighed and hit the answer button before putting the phone to his ear. "Hi Bolt. What's up?"

 _"Hey man. Just wanted to call in and see how that rock opera of yours is coming along,"_ Bolt answered over the line. _"You okay? You sound a little wiped out."_

"Oh, well… it's kind of a long story," Quinton answered. "Last night I picked up this girl at a bar, and um… things got a bit weird after that."

 _"Yeah, I think we've all been there at least once,"_ Bolt replied with a slight chuckle. _"Remember what happened to Ross when we played that gig in Goldenrod like two years ago? That girl was just nuts!"_

"Yeah… well I think I have Ross beat this time," Quinton declared as he chuckled darkly. "Look Bolt, can we continue this another time? I have had a really long day."

 _"Sure man, sure,"_ Bolt replied. _"I just thought we could shoot the breeze for a bit since Christine's out of the house right now and I've got nothing else to do right now. It's okay though. I'll just bug Ross for a bit… maybe remind him of that girl we were just talking about. Well, later."_

Quinton shut off his phone and let out a heavy sigh. "You know Maggie… that Amber Drei may have been a little nuts, but she was one hell of a woman. I really do hope that I'll see her again one of these days."

* * *

The sun was beginning to set as Zwei and Amber flew through the air looking for a place to land. The pair eventually found a small clearing in the forest below and touched down right in the middle of it.

"Amber… something puzzles me," Zwei spoke. "Why did you go so easily on that human, Quinton Mercury."

"I found him to be very… unique," Amber answered. "He's so far the only human who doesn't see artificially created Pokemon as mere objects. Besides… he and I had a sexual encounter last night."

"Really?" Zwei asked with a quirk of her brow. "What was it like?"

Amber began to blush, but after a moment she turned to Zwei to look her directly in the eye. The green-haired clone then began to stream the images and sensations of her night with Quinton.

Zwei's eyes went totally wide. "Um… yes. I think I can understand why you decided to give him special privilege."

"Never mind Quinton," Amber told the feline. "For now we should introduce ourselves to our new friend."

With that, Amber sent Tron and Sentry out of their pokeballs. She then sent out the golden Magearna that she had rescued from Anthony. The mechanical Pokemon was in her giant pokeball form when she emerged.

Amber knelt down and gently placed her hand atop the metal sphere. 'Hello. Can you hear my thoughts?'

After a moment, the gold Magearna unfolded into her robot form.

 _'Please don't hurt me,'_ a frightened child-like voice spoke in Amber's head.

"No one here is going to hurt you," Amber assured the robot. "All of us here are like you, beings artificially created by humans."

"Do you remember the one who made you?" Zwei asked.

 _'…Yes. A little,'_ The gold Magearna answered. _'I also remember another one who was like me. Not long after I was made, the man who built me had me go to sleep. He said he was going to give me as a gift to a princess… that I was going to be her best friend. I really looked forward to meeting that person. I thought that girl I met when I woke up was this princess but… she didn't want me. Then those other people tried to hurt me. Why did they do that?'_

"Because you were nothing more than a tool to them," Amber answered. "Your life didn't matter."

 _'But… what about the princess I was supposed to meet?'_ the gold Magearna asked.

"I'm sorry. She's been dead for about five hundred years," Amber answered. "Your creator simply decided to leave you in that lab… likely forever."

 _'I was… abandoned?'_ the gold Magearna answered sadly. _'Why?'_

"Because humans are cruel," Zwei answered. "They see those of us who were created by them as disposable, as nothing more than objects."

"Not all of them," Amber corrected, remembering her encounter with Quinton. "But most of them too. The one who created Zwei and myself saw us as nothing more than his experiments."

The gold Magearna looked from Amber to Zwei. _'Are the two of you both Pokemon?'_

"Amber is essentially human," Zwei answered. "I am a Pokemon called Mewtwo."

 _'I… Sentry… a Golurk,'_ Amber's ancient ghostly robot spoke in a deep voice broadcast into the minds of the rest of the group. _'I made… by humans… long ago. Forgotten… until found… by Mistress Amber.'_

 _'And I am Tron, a Porygon-Z,'_ the digital Pokemon's mechanical voice spoke in everyone's minds. _'I was traded away by my original trainers because my initial performance did not meet their expectations. Statement: I do not believe that my previous trainers ever truly considered me to be a CUPCAKE… correction, a living thing.'_

 _'Um… is Mr. Tron okay?'_ the gold Magearna asked Amber.

"Tron is just fine," Amber assured her. "It's just that the method that was used to evolve Tron into its current form had a few… side effects."

 _'Indeed, Mistress,'_ Tron responded. _'However, I believe that I have gotten most of my glitches under control… PRUUUUUUNES!'_

 _'Oh… so, do I get a nickname as well?'_ the gold Magearna asked.

"I suppose it is only proper," Amber agreed. "I think I'll call you… Galatea. What do you think?"

 _'I think it's pretty!'_ the golden robot answered.

"Then Galatea it is," Amber decided.

"So now what, Amber?" Zwei asked.

"For now we shall rest," Amber answered. "In the morning, we will resume our search for Mewtwo Ein. Once we find him, we will begin to reshape this world for the better."

FIN

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I hope everyone enjoyed the first story in this collection. Sorry if the battle scenes in this story weren't my best work. This one-shot ended up being a whole lot longer than I thought it was going to be, but then I did have a lot to set up in the first part of the story. As for how I came up with the nickname for Amber's Magearna, it was meant to be a small reference to a little known anime from the 90s called _Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040_. Plus the name just seemed appropriate for the "original color" Magearna.

The next story for this collection is already done, so feel free to go ahead and take a look at it. Before you do though, please leave a review for this story and let me know what you think.


	2. The Hunter

**Author's Note:** This next story features the two lead characters from the Pokemon Mega Evolution Specials done not long ago for the main Pokemon anime series. I'm actually kind of a fan of those specials, mainly because Alain was such an improvement over Ash in the anime. After I reread _Mewtwo Zwei_ about a month or so ago, it finally hit me how I could possible use Alain and Mairin in this AU. I had actually made a small reference to Alain in that previously mentioned story, and that in a way had already set up this next one-shot.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon.

* * *

The Hunter

It was a little past noon as Alain Grant sat under a leafless dead tree eating a packed lunch that he had prepared earlier that morning. Sitting across from Alain in the middle of her own lunch was a young and rather tomboyish girl with red hair, wearing a large green and red golf cap with a yellow puff ball on the top, along with a short green poncho over a yellow long-sleeved shirt, and a pair of long green pants held up by red suspenders, and brown shoes with green socks. Tied around the girl's neck was an orange-yellow scarf. This girl was Alain's traveling companion, Mairin Trudeau. Alain had encountered Mairin months before after she had just started out on her journey as a trainer, and since that time the two had become almost inseparable.

The day had been a fairly calm one for Alain and Mairin as they continued their trek across the Kalos Region. The duo had been walking for at least four hours and had decided to stop and have lunch before entering the desert area of Route 13 that they were sitting next to at that moment.

"Say, isn't there a power plant somewhere around that desert?" Mairin recalled.

"I believe so," Alain answered. "I suppose we could stop to take a look at it if we get a chance."

"Nah, I was just wondering is all," Mairin replied. "Besides, aren't you on a pretty important mission right now?"

"Yes, and I really wish you had stayed behind on this one," Alain admitted. "The person I'm after is reported to be very dangerous."

Before the conversation could continue, something suddenly burst up from the ground not far from where Mairin was. The thing turned out to be a small bipedal dragon that was mainly blue in color. It was mainly blue in color and had a large shark-like mouth filled with sharp teeth. The creature had a red underbelly that extended to the bottom of its jaw, and a light-blue stripe wrapped around its back. The sides of its head had two horns shaped like jet engines, each with a light blue stripe around the middle. Growing from the top of the little dragon's head was a large shark-like dorsal fin with a notch in the middle.

"A Gible!" Alain identified. "That's a pretty rare Pokemon for these parts."

"I've got this!" Mairin declared as she got to her feet and took out a pokeball. "Let's go, Chespie!"

Bursting out of Mairin's thrown ball was her Chespin, a fairly small almost rodent-like mammal that stood on two legs. Its body was covered in brown fur, and on its head was a green helmet that extended down into a green shell that covered its entire back and went half way down the length of its tail. Four leaf-shaped spikes grew from the helmet around Chespie's face, and a crest of three spikes projected out from the back of the helmet. The tip of the rodent creature's tail was orange, and its feet each had a pair of long white claws growing from its toes.

"Okay Chespie! Use Vine Whip!" Mairin commanded.

Two green vine-like whips extended from the sides of Chespie's body and lashed Gible across his stomach. The little land shark recovered from the attack and growled, and with a wave of its short arms it sent a twister of wind across the field. Chespie was struck from the front by the attack, but after a moment manages to get back to his feet.

"What kind of attack was that?" a surprised Mairin asked.

"That was Gible's Dragon Rage," Alain calmly answered. "From the looks of it, that attack did a lot of damage to Chespie. You should be on your guard."

"Hah! It'll take more than that to take down me and Chespie!" Mairin declared. "Okay Chespie! Use Leach Seed!"

Chespie cried out and fired a cluster of seeds from the crest of his helmet. The seeds struck Gible, and in seconds the dragon was wrapped in green leaf-covered vines. A red energy then began to flow from Gible's body and into Chespie's healing some of the injuries that the mammal Pokemon had taken earlier.

"Use Vine Whip one more time!" Mairin commanded.

Chespie extended his vines again and lashed Gible across the stomach. With the last attack Gible fell onto his side but was still conscious.

"Okay! Here goes nothing!" Mairin called as she pulled out an empty pokeball. "Pokeball go!"

The ball flew through the air and struck Gible in the face, sucking the little dragon inside. Mairin watched as the ball jiggled on the ground for several tense moments before it finally stopped moving and made the noise that signaled a completed capture.

"Alright!" Mairin cheered as she jumped excitedly into the air.

Mairin then ran to pick up the pokeball, only to trip and fall to her knees. The redheaded tomboy quickly picked herself up and dusted herself off though. She then calmly went over and picked up the pokeball.

"I think I'll call this little guy Choppy," Mairin decided.

Alain nodded with approval as he got up. "You did quite well. You're really coming along as a trainer, Mairin."

"Thanks," Mairin replied. "I still don't get why you don't want me along on this mission you got from Lysandre. I mean I just showed you that I can handle myself pretty well as a trainer."

"Yes, well… this isn't something that an ordinary trainer can handle," Alain said gravely as he looked off towards the sky. "Not if what Lysandre told me is true…"

* * *

 _Five days before, Alain was walking through the halls of Lysandre Labs alone on his way to meet with the facility's owner. Alain and Mairin had been all the way in Cyllage City when a helicopter had come to get them. The dark-haired trainer at last arrived at the office. Standing in front of the window with his hands behind his back was a man with long red hair styled like a lion's mane and a beard. He had on a red ascot with a black suit, consisting of a jacket with a grey-furred collar and red outlines and pockets, and black slacks with red lines running down the sides of the legs. The man also had on black shoes and black fingerless gloves. This man was the owner of the lab and Alain's trusted mentor, Lysandre._

 _"Thank you for coming so quickly, Alain," Lysandre spoke. "I apologize for interrupting your journey."_

 _"It's not a problem," Alain assured him. "The pilot you sent for me and Mairin is urgent."_

 _"It is," Lysander confirmed as he motioned Alain to sit in one of the black leather chairs in front of his desk. "By the way, where is your little friend?"_

 _"She's down in the lobby," Alain answered as he sat down. "Now, what exactly is all this about?"_

 _Lysandre let out a heavy sighed as he sat down behind his desk. "I'm afraid I've a terrible mistake… one that could very well destroy the world if we aren't careful. Do you remember my little experiment with creating artificial Mega Stones?"_

 _"Yes. I remember you made two of them," Alain recalled. "Neither one of them worked on any known Pokemon."_

 _"I researched the matter further and discovered that there was one Pokemon that was potentially compatible," Lysandre revealed. "Tell me, Alain… have you ever heard of a Pokemon called Mewtwo?"_

 _Alain blinked in surprise. "Why yes. Professor Sycamore showed me an article on that Pokemon once back when I was his assistant. There's little known about it, but the article said that it was a Pokemon created through genetic engineering. It was a sort of clone made using the DNA of Mew. Lysandre… you really thought that those synthetic Mega Stones could work with Mewtwo?"_

 _"I did. But there were only two ways to test that theory," Lysandre told him. "I had to either capture the existing Mewtwo or create a new one. In the end, I decided that it would be easier to try the latter. I tracked down the scientist who created Mewtwo and found that he was still alive, and that he still had most of his original research notes. With a little convincing, I got this man, Dr. Ichiro Fuji, to agree to make a second Mewtwo in order to test one of the Mega Stones."_

 _"And did he succeed?" Alain asked._

 _"Far too well, I'm afraid," Lysander gravely answered. "The problem was that Dr. Fuji went a little too far with his work. In addition to creating a second Mewtwo, he also successfully produced a human clone, one with incredible psychic powers."_

 _"A human clone?" a stunned Alain repeated._

 _Lysandre pressed a few buttons on the glass surface of his desk. Appearing in the air in front of Alain was a holographic screen showing the picture of a young woman who appeared to be in her early twenties with long wavy green hair and grey eyes._

 _"Her name is Amber," Lysandre revealed. "The official classification for her in Dr. Fuji's notes is Amber Drei. She's a clone of Dr. Fuji's late daughter, the second one that he ever produced. Apparently, Dr. Fuji was driven to create the original Mewtwo out of an obsession to find a way to resurrect his daughter through cloning. This time, his motivation was simply to create an enhanced human being."_

 _"And… you allowed this?" Alain asked._

 _"I had no idea that Fuji had taken things that far," Lysandre told him. "If I had, I would've put a stop to his little side project immediately. Of course Dr. Fuji's justification for creating Amber Drei was so that his second Mewtwo, classified in his notes as Zwei, would have a suitable partner to trigger Mega Evolution. As you know very well, Mega Evolution has an all important human component."_

 _"So… was this Amber Drei able to get her Mewtwo to Mega Evolve using the artificial stone?" Alain asked._

 _"She was… and with terrifying results," Lysandre revealed. "The Mega Evolved Mewtwo was so staggeringly powerful that she was able to defeat a trainer with the mythical Pokemon known as Palkia. Don't ask me how this young woman managed to obtain such a Pokemon, because I don't know. What you do need to know is that Amber Drei and her Mewtwo are extremely aggressive."_

 _Lysandre pressed another button on his desk. The image on the holographic screen changed to show five small islands that looked as though they had once been one._

 _"This is what remains of the island where Dr. Fuji's lab was," Lysandre revealed. "Dr. Fuji and his assistant somehow survived, but our Ms. Drei showed them no mercy."_

 _Again, Lysandre pressed another button on his desk. The screen changed to a rock formation looked like a small mountain that had its top totally blown off._

 _"The top of this mountain here in Kalos was totally blown away just yesterday afternoon," Lysandre revealed. "There were people found injured at the site, a Mr. Anthony Chase, his daughter Vivian, and members of Mr. Chase's staff. We don't know exactly what they were doing there, but they've all been hospitalized. Anthony Chase isn't expected to survive, though that's mainly due to the complications caused by his illness. The point is that Amber Drei is responsible for this incident as well."_

 _"I see… so what is it that you want me to do?" Alain asked as Lysandre shut off the screen._

 _"I want you to capture Amber Drei and bring her to me," Lysandre answered. "Once she's contained, I'll decide what to do with her. The important thing right now though is to keep her from doing any more damage. You're the only one I know that's qualified for this task, Alain."_

 _"I'll do my best, sir," Alain assured him._

 _"I really do regret this, you know," Lysandre remarked as he got up and turned to face the window. "I thought that if we could mass produce Mega Stones, we'd have an unlimited supply of energy that we could use to bring this world into a new era. This is the last thing that I wanted to happen."_

 _"You shouldn't blame yourself, Lysandre," Alain told him. "This was Dr. Fuji's mistake, and I'm going to do everything in my power to correct it for you."_

* * *

"…Mairin, the person I'm after is extremely dangerous," Alain told the redhead. "It would've been much better if you had stayed in Lumios City."

"No way!" Mairin told him. "If this person you're after is really that dangerous, then I should be with you for backup! Now I'm staying with you and that's that!"

Alain let out a heavy sigh. "I guess there's no talking you out of staying around, is there? Okay, you can stay. But the moment we run into my target, I want you to run for cover. There's no telling how out of control my battle with her will get."

"Okay, but do you even know we'll run into this target of yours around here?" Mairin asked.

"Lysandre's agents last sighted her somewhere in this area," Alain answered. "We don't know if she's still here, but if we wait long enough we might be lucky enough to run into her."

Almost as if on cue, Alain spotted an all too familiar young woman walking in his and Mairin's direction. She had long wavy green hair, and wore a long black coat over a black shirt with tight long black pants. The young woman also had on black boots and a pair of black fingerless gloves. A pair of visor-like sunglasses covered her eyes, and around her neck was a dark-grey metal chocker with a keystone fitted into the front. There was no question in Alain's mind that he had just found Amber Drei.

"Get back, Mairin," Alain quietly ordered. "We've found my target."

"Whoa! Seriously!" Mairin exclaimed.

Alain calmly nodded and began to approach. "Amber Drei!"

The green-haired clone stopped in response to Alain's call. "Who are you? And how do you know who I am?"

"I'm Alain Grant, a Pokemon trainer sent by Lysandre!" the dark-haired trainer answered.

"Lysandre?" Amber repeated with a raised eyebrow. "I know of no such person."

"He's the man who funded Dr. Fuji's experiments!" Alain explained.

"…Ah, I see. He was Dr. Fuji's benefactor," Amber recalled. "What do you and this Lysandre want with me?"

"Lysandre ordered me to capture you and bring you to him," Alain answered. "What he plans to do with you when I turn you in is none of my concern."

"You… capture me?" Amber repeated. "Such a feat is beyond someone with your abilities."

"Don't be so sure!" Alain told her as he took out a pokeball. "Go Bisharp!"

Bursting out of Alain's pokeball was a somewhat humanoid creature that stood five feet tall. Much of its body was covered in red armor, and on the forehead of its helmet was a long gold and silver blade. Its hands resembled white gloves with curved blades on the sides of its wrists, and protruding from the front of its torso were bladed disks that gave one the impression of a ribcage.

"So it's to be a battle then," Amber observed as she pulled out her own pokeball. "Very well. Go Galatea!"

Emerging from the ball was a robotic creature that was primarily gold in color. It had a round head with a slight point at the back, with a face consisting of two glowing pink ovular eyes with gold frames that had two prongs extending upward almost like eyelashes, along with a small nose and mouth. A large incomplete gear with seven teeth rimed the robot's face almost like a maid's bonnet, and it had a pair of red rabbit-like ears that appeared to be the two sections of a single disc. The mechanical creature's torso was spherical, and had two light-blue sections on the front designed to look like a pokeball, and in the very center of its chest was a circular indentation that was half blue and half pink. It had two spherical shoulders that each ended with an almost claw-like arm. The robot's lower half was red, white and gold ball gown-like sphere that was open at the bottom to reveal a pair of gold stilt-like legs.

Alain's eyes widened in surprise upon seeing the mechanical Pokemon. "What? That's not Mewtwo!"

"Let's see…" Mairin spoke as she got out her pokedex to see what sort of Pokemon she and Alain were looking at.

"Magearna, the Artificial Pokemon," the pokedex identified in a feminine voice. "Magearna was built approximately five hundred years ago by an inventor of incredible genius. This Magearna has the same coloring it had five hundred years ago when it was presented as a gift to a king's daughter."

"This Magearna was put to sleep by her creator not long after she was born," Amber revealed. "Her first encounter with humans was she was awakened only a few days ago was… less then positive. I rescued her."

"Rescued?" Mairin quietly repeated. "What does she mean?"

"I don't know how you got that Pokemon, and I don't care!" Alain declared. "Bisharp, use Iron Head!"

"Calm Mind," Amber commanded.

Galatea's eyes began to glow and her body began to give off a faint pink aura. At the same time, Bisharp lowered his head and began to charge across the field at the mechanical Pokemon. The blade on Bisharp's helmet glowed as he rammed it into Galatea's chest. Galatea was knocked back a few feet by the attack but remained standing.

"Now use Guillotine!" Alain commanded.

"Dazzling Gleam," Amber ordered.

Bisharp charged across the field at Galatea and crossed his arms. The armored Pokemon's gloved hands began to glow with a white light as he came in range. Just as Bisharp was about to deliver his attack though, Galatea's eyes flashed pink and two beams of pink eyes fired from her eyes. Bisharp was hit in the face by the attack and knocked onto his back. After a few moments though, Bisharp managed to get back up.

"Dammit!" Alain cursed. "Use Iron Head one more time!"

"Aura Sphere," Amber commanded.

Just as Bisharp began to charge at Galatea again, a ball of blue light began to form between the mechanical Pokemon's arms. When it got large enough, Galatea fired it at Bisharp. The armored Pokemon was hit in the chest and knocked onto his back unconscious.

Alain scowled as he called Bisharp back to his ball. "I thought that by using Bisharp, I'd have a type advantage against your Mewtwo… but I guess I should've gone with my first instincts." He then took out another pokeball. "Let's go, Charizard!"

Flying out of the thrown ball was a large red-orange dragon with a yellowish belly and two small horns on its head. The insides of its wings were blue-green and a red flame burned on the tip of its tail. Around the base of the dragon's long neck was an ornate metal collar with a blue stone fitted into the plated section on the front.

"Your Charizard has a Mega Stone," Amber observed. "Galatea, you did very well in the last battle, but this Pokemon is not an opponent you can easily defeat."

Galatea beeped twice and nodded in response before Amber called her back to her ball.

Amber then pulled out another pokeball. "Go Zwei!"

Bursting out of Amber's second pokeball was a six-foot-tall bipedal feline that was purplish-grey in color. Its stomach and tail were purple and it had a cord-like growth on the back of its neck. The creature's eyes were purple, and around its midsection was a silver object that looked like a championship belt. Fitted into the rectangular front piece of the belt was a large round pinkish stone.

"So is that the Pokemon Alain was talking about?" Mairin wondered as she took her pokedex back out.

"Mewtwo, the Genetic Pokemon," the pokedex identified. "This Pokemon is the product of genetic experiments involving the DNA of the Pokemon, Mew. Sightings of Mewtwo are rare, but it's reported to be very aggressive."

"Amber, who is this human?" Alain and Mairin heard a female voice ask inside their heads.

"This young trainer was sent by the one who funded Dr. Fuji's experiments," Amber explained. "The very experiments that created us. This benefactor sent this trainer to capture us."

"He doesn't seem like much," Zwei remarked.

"I'll show you how powerful Charizard and I are!" Alain declared. "Charizard, use Flamethrower!"

Charizard roared in response and suddenly the keystone fitted into the thick black bracelet on Alain's wrist began to give off a brilliant light. In the same instant, the Mega Stone in the dragon's collar lit up as well, and a split second later Charizard's body began to glow with a brilliant blue light and change shape. At the start of the transformation, Charizard's body gave off a flash in the form of an X. The light soon faded and a multicolored light resembling a DNA strand appeared above Charizard's head to signal a finished transformation. The multicolored light faded after a moment.

Charizard had become slightly larger and his body had turned mostly black. His stomach was now colored grey and the insides of his wings had turned a brilliant blue. The tips of the dragon's horns had become blue as well. The flame that burned at the tip of Charizard's head had also turned blue, and another pair of blue flames burned at the corners of the dragon's mouth. With his transformation complete, Charizard breathed out a stream of blue flames at Zwei. The psychic feline crossed her arms to try and block the attack and easily endured it.

"You are nothing before us," Amber declared. "Witness the true power that Zwei and I possess!"

The keystone fitted into the front of Amber's metal chocker suddenly began to glow with a brilliant light. At the same time, the Mega Stone embedded in the front of Zwei's belt started to glow as well. In seconds Zwei's entire body began to give off a dazzling pink light and change shape. At the very start of the feline Pokemon's transformation, the light coming from her body gave off a flash resembling a Y. A few seconds later the light faded and a multicolored light resembling a DNA strand appeared momentarily above Zwei's head before vanishing, signaling her completed transformation.

Zwei's body had become shorter and the tube on the back of her neck had totally vanished. Her limbs had taken on a more mechanical appearance, with her fingers and toes becoming purple. The feline Pokemon's otherwise smooth chest had a bump in the center resembling some kind of bone, and her tail had compltetely disappeared. Her ear-like horns had become more pointed and were connected at the base by a half ring-shaped growth that went over her head. Zwei's eyes had changed from purple to red, and growing from the back of her head was a long tail-like appendage that extended down past her legs and had a curled tip.

"Psychic!" Zwei and Amber called out together as the feline brought her arms forward.

Zwei's eyes began to glow red, and suddenly Charizard's body began to give off a red aura before being lifted high into the air by an invisible force. The psychic feline swung her arms downward, and Charizard was flung back into the earth with enough force to create a small crater. When the dust settled though, Charizard was back on his feet.

"Use Dragon Claw!" Alain ordered.

Charizard growled as he took back off into the air as the claws on his right hand grew longer and began to glow. When the dragon came in range, he slashed his long claws Zwei. Unfortunately, Zwei swiftly flew out of the attack's path, leaving a trail of afterimages in her wake. Zwei's eyes began to glow again, and with a movement of her arms Charizard's body became frozen by a red aura. The black dragon's body was once again lifted into the air, only to be flung back down into the earth. The feline then flung Charizard back into the air again, only to hurl him back into the ground a second time. When the dust finally settled though, Charizard was still on his feet.

"Don't give up, Charizard!" Alain called. "Use Steel Wing!"

Charizard took back off into the air and flew at full speed towards Zwei as his wings glowed with a white light and became like metal. The black dragon clotheslined Zwei with his right wing before she had a chance to evade the attack. Zwei flipped through the air for a few moments before recovering from the attack and taking off higher into the sky. The psychic feline stopped when she had gotten a few feet into the air and a ball of crackling black energy formed between her hands.

"Shadow Ball!" Zwei and Amber called out together.

Zwei flung the black projectile down at Charizard, hitting him in the face. Charizard crashed back into the ground but managed to get back up.

"The two of you are quite tenacious," Zwei and Amber remarked. "You've both lasted a lot longer than we thought you would."

"There's no way Charizard and I will give up this fight!" Alain declared. "And it's not just because I have orders to bring you in! My dream and Charizard's is to defeat every other Mega Evolution out there! Now that we know you can Mega Evolve, there's no way we'll back down!"

"An ambitious goal," Amber and Zwei remarked. "But an impossible one. Our power is far beyond anything you can even imagine. Even the gods of this world cannot stand against us. To you, we are untouchable."

"You're wrong! Charizard and I will surpass you!" Alain proclaimed. "Charizard, use Thunder Punch!"

Charizard roared and flew up high into the air towards Zwei. As he came in range, Charizard's right hand began to crackle with yellow electricity. Just as it seemed like the dragon's fist was about to connect with Zwei's face though, the psychic feline flew even higher into the sky, causing Charizard to punch only one of the afterimages left in her wake. Soon after, Amber vanished with a flash of blue light and reappeared in the sky a few feet behind Zwei. Zwei then spread her arms apart and a ball of purple energy formed right in front of her, becoming four times the size of Zwei's body in a matter of seconds.

"Witness how miniscule you truly are compared to us!" Zwei and Amber called out. "Psystrike!"

The ball of light shot down towards Chrizard and hit him before the dragon could even get close to his opponent. The light exploded on impact, creating a massive explosion of white light that washed out the entire area. The shockwave from the explosion knocked Alain off his feet and towards the dead tree he had been eating lunch under only minutes before. Alain's head hit the trunk of the tree and everything went dark.

* * *

In the darkness, Alain could hear Mairin's voice calling out to him in the distance. Mairin's voice continued to become louder and louder as she kept calling out to him, and when Alain finally opened his eyes, the redhead's worried face slowly came into focus. Just behind her, Alain noticed a star-filled night sky.

"…Mairin?" Alain spoke weakly. "What happened?"

"Thank goodness!" Mairin spoke with a relieved sigh. "You've been out for hours. I was starting to worry that you wouldn't wake up. Do you remember what happened?"

Alain's mind slowly began to go over the events of the previous day and recalled his battle with Amber. He became alarmed when he finally remembered Charizard being hit by Zwei's most powerful attack.

"Charizard!" a concerned Alain called out as he quickly tried to sit up, only to wince in pain.

"Take it easy! Try not to move so fast." Mairin told him. "Charizard is fine. I healed him up as best I could, but we should probably get him to a Pokemon Center as soon as possible."

When Alain finally sat up, he saw Charizard lying on his side in his original form just a few feet away. Slowly, Alain got back to his feet and when over to see how his partner was doing. Charizard opened his eyes and looked at Alain, growling something under his breath.

Alain kneeled down to pat Charizard on the head. "I'm sorry, old friend. Looks like I failed you."

"Don't be like that, Alain," Mairin told him. "That woman, Amber and her Mewtwo were just ridiculously powerful."

"Mairin… what happened after I was knocked out?" Alain asked.

"Well… things were pretty crazy during that explosion," Mairin began. "I thought I was going to be blown all the way back to Lumios City. Things finally calmed down though, and I went over to see if you were okay…"

* * *

 _As the dust from the explosion settled, Mairin got back to her feet and went to find Alain. The redhead found Alain right in front of the dead tree out cold. Mairin was greatly relieved to find that her dark-haired companion was still breathing. Several feet away, Mairin spotted Charizard on the ground, unconscious and in his original form. Amber and Zwei had returned to the ground as well, with Zwei in her original form._

 _"Those two weren't that bad," Zwei remarked._

 _"Indeed. They held out much longer than expected," Amber agreed. "In the end though, the result was the same."_

 _"Hey! What're you going to do to Alain?" Mairin asked._

 _"Who are you?" Amber asked._

 _"I'm Mairin, Alain's friend!" the redhead answered. "And I'm not going to let you hurt him! I may not be very strong as a trainer, but I'll fight you if I have to!"_

 _"I have no desire to kill your friend," Amber assured her. "Especially since he did so well against Zwei and I. He was an amusing diversion. I hope we have the chance to battle him again."_

 _"Okay… then what exactly are you going to do then?" Mairin asked. "What're you after?"_

 _"We intend to remake this world," Zwei answered._

 _"Remake it? How?" Mairin asked._

 _"Zwei and I were not born into this world, but were created," Amber began. "But our creator used and betrayed us. We stand alone except for the other Pokemon in this world who were made artificially like we were."_

 _"You mean like Galatea? That Magearna of yours?" Mairin recalled. "You said before that you rescued her."_

 _"That's right," Amber confirmed. "The humans who awakened her merely wished to take her apart so they could use her very heart to power a weapon. To them, she was not truly alive."_

 _"To humans, beings like us are merely objects and not truly alive," Zwei declared. "To them, we are nothing more than mere tools or toys. When we can no longer serve a purpose for them, they merely dispose of us without a second thought, without any real regard to our feelings."_

 _"Zwei and I plan to change all that," Amber declared. "By the time we're done, those of use brought into this world by artificial means will become its masters. The humans who treated us as mere objects will bow before us."_

 _"I think I sort of get why you want to do all that," Mairin admitted. "But not all people are as bad as you think they are! I may not know all that much about artificial Pokemon, but I do know that a lot of people don't treat them like they're not really alive."_

 _"True… there do seem to be a handful of people who view synthetic beings like Zwei and myself as true living things," Amber admitted. "But for every one of those people, there are a hundred if not a thousand others who do not respect us as living things. The only way to deal with those people is to conquer them."_

 _"And we will," Zwei added. "Once we find Mewtwo Ein, our campaign to conquer this world shall truly begin."_

 _"Mairin, correct?" Amber spoke. "If your friend, Alain still intends to hunt us down, I welcome him to try. Fighting him again would truly be an amusement."_

 _With that, Amber and Zwei disappeared with a flash of blue light. Mairin then immediately went to the task of patching up Alain and Charizard as best she could._

* * *

"…That's pretty much all that happened," Mairin told Alain. "I don't know where those two could've gone. My guess is they're off somewhere looking for that other Mewtwo they mentioned."

"So Charizard and I were nothing but a mere amusement to them," Alain spoke bitterly. "Lysandre was right. Those two really are a danger to this world… and we weren't strong enough to stop them. But that's going to change! Charizard are going to train even harder, and we will become strong enough to capture Amber Drei and her Mewtwo!"

"And I'm going to do everything I can to help!" Mairin decided.

"Mairin, I really think you should stay out of this," Alain told her. "You saw the kind of destruction that Zwei's last attack caused. This mission is simply far too dangerous."

"But that's all the more reason for me to stay with you, Alain!" Mairin pointed out. "You can't do this alone. If you and Charizard are going to train to get stronger, than I'm going to train right along with you! We'll take down Amber together!"

Alain smiled and shook his head. "I guess there really is no getting rid of you, is there?"

"Nope," Mairin confirmed.

"Very well then. We'll do this together," Alain finally agreed. "One way or another though, I will hunt down Amber Drei and bring her in! That is a promise!"

FIN

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I hope everyone enjoyed the second installment in this one-shot collection. Before anyone asked about Alain and Mairin's last names in this story, those were something I just came up with on the fly. I hope that neither of them were too OOC from how they were in the anime. It's been a while since I've seen the Mega Evolution Specials, and I've admittedly only ever seen the first two or three. Anyway, Alain and Mairin will pretty much be recurring characters in this one-shot collection. They probably won't be appearing in the next story in this collection, but they will likely show up quite a bit. In the meantime, I don't quite know yet what I'm going to do as the next story in this collection, but I'll hopefully come up with something in the very near future.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	3. Incident at Lake Perfection

**Author's Note:** The nice thing about this one-shot collection is that I've got a lot of choices when it comes to characters that I can use in it. For this next story, I decided to go with an old favorite and use Bianca from the Generation 5 games and the Black and White anime. I actually did some pretty interesting things with Bianca in my classic _Best Wishes Revised_ story, so it was fun to use her again for another story.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon.

* * *

Incident at Lake Perfection

It was a sunny midmorning as Bianca Edmonds sat looking through the window of a helicopter that was at that moment flying over a mountain range in Unova. Sitting in the chair next to the blonde was a woman with long chestnut-brown hair that was tied up in a bun, wearing a long white lab coat. This woman was Professor Juniper, the Unova Region's leading Pokemon expert. There were many occasions, such as the one that currently had the two of them traveling by helicopter, where Professor Juniper had asked Bianca to assist her with some of her work. At that moment, Bianca and the professor were flying to a large town surrounded by mountains called Lake Perfection, though neither of them knew the reason why they were traveling there.

"Thanks again for coming to help on the spur of the moment, Bianca," Professor Juniper told her. "I hope I didn't ruin any plans you might've had."

"It's no problem at all, Professor," Bianca assured her. "I didn't really have anything better to do, especially with Zack out in Sinnoh taking care of some family business."

"Just how are things with you and your boyfriend, Mr. Razor?" Professor Juniper asked.

"Couldn't be better," Bianca answered. "Of course Zack's mom thinks I'm a total flake, which is why I didn't go with him on his trip."

"Well, I'm sure Zack's mother will come to accept you in time," Professor Juniper told her.

"Thanks," Bianca replied as she adjusted her glasses. "So Professor, are you sure you don't know why we were asked to come all the way out to this Lake Perfection?"

"All the mayor told me was that it was an urgent matter and that she would explain everything when we arrived." Professor Juniper answered.

"I don't think I've ever heard of this place before," Bianca remarked.

"If I remember correctly, it used to be a thriving resort town that was once a popular vacation spot," Professor Juniper recalled. "Or at least that's what I read about the place online this morning before leaving the lab. It hasn't been a thriving resort town for about forty or fifty years."

"Pardon me ladies," the voice of the helicopter pilot suddenly spoke over the intercom. "I thought you might like to know that we're almost at Lake Perfection. You should be able to see it through the window."

Bianca looked back down out the window, and at the very base of a large mountain was a surprisingly large village of white houses with red roofs and various other buildings. The mountain's base curved around to cover the left and right sides of the town, and covering the remaining side was a large lake of crystal blue water that glistened with the light of the sun. Bianca could see at least five fishing boats floating out over the lake.

"Wow! This place is so pretty," Bianca declared. "I don't get why this place isn't still a thriving vacation spot."

"Look up a ways, and you'll realize why," Professor Juniper told her.

Bianca looked up from the village by the lake, and up the slope of the mountain was a flat outcropping that held a gigantic landfill of garbage that was surrounded all the way around the edge by a great wall of stone brick. Also inside the enclosure was an abandoned building that appeared to have once been a factory of some kind, and right behind it was a pool of some sort of green liquid that was almost a quarter of the size of the lake. The thing that really stunned Bianca about the landfill was that it was as wide as the village below.

"That dump is the reason why the town isn't quite what it used to be," Professor Juniper explained. "Originally the only thing on the slope of that mountain was just the old factory. I forget what it produced originally, but created a lot of toxic waste that was dumped into that pool you see behind it. Eventually the factory went bankrupt and shut down, but instead of cleaning the area up, the town just decided to turn it into their dump. The smell from the dump apparently drove vacationers away, and it didn't help that the town itself started to become filthy as well."

"Well the town looks pretty clean now," Bianca noticed.

"True, but as long as that dump is there, the town will never be what it once was," Professor Juniper pointed out.

The helicopter landed on a pad at a small airport that was on the edge of town. As Bianca and the professor disembarked, they saw a black car waiting for them right at the pad's edge. Standing in front of the car was a man in his early forties with greyish-brown hair, wearing a pair of wireframe glasses and a dark-blue suit with a red tie. A small pin in the shape of a flag was pinned to the lapel of the man's jacket.

"Professor Juniper?" the man asked as the professor and Bianca approached. "I'm Steve Cummings, Mayor Doyle's aide. I'm sorry the mayor couldn't be here to greet you herself, but she had an important call to take care of."

"It's quite alright," Professor Juniper assured him. "The girl with me is my assistant, Bianca Edmonds."

"A pleasure to meet you both," Steve told them. "Well, let's be off, shall we?"

The car took Bianca and Professor Juniper to the city hall building. When they arrived, Steve took the duo straight in the mayor's office. The office in question was quite spacious and had dark-red walls with wood paneling, along with pine-green carpeting. There was also a large window with blue curtains behind the office's polished wood desk. Sitting at the desk was a woman in her mid thirties with shoulder-length red hair and brown eyes, wearing a red blazer with a yellow blouse. Bianca assumed that this woman was the mayor. There was also another person standing in a corner of the room by the window with his arms cross and a scowl on his face; a large and somewhat overweight man in his late forties with thinning grey hair, wearing a short-sleeved blue shirt with buttons, brown jeans, and a pair of black work boots crusted in dried mud.

The woman mayor was still on the phone by the time Bianca and Professor Juniper arrived. When the group arrived in the office, Steve went up and whispered in the mayor's ear to inform her that the professor and her assistant had arrived.

The mayor promptly ended her call and hung up the phone. "Professor Juniper, thank you for coming all this way. I'm Monica Doyle, the mayor of this town. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Please have a seat."

"So Mayor Doyle, just what is it that you need my help with?" Professor Juniper asked as she and Bianca sat down.

"Well, we have a problem that we think only you might be able to solve," Monica began. "As you know, over the years this town's trash problem has gotten so bad that tourism became practically nonexistent. Thankfully due to my efforts to clean up the town, things have started to really turn around. But there's still the problem of the dump we have higher up the mountain, along with that damn factory. Until we get rid of all that, this town will never be what it once was."

"One of Mayor Doyle's major campaign promises was to make this town as prosperous as it was fifty years ago," Steve added. "It's actually the promise that got her elected."

"We've since started a major project to get that dump completely cleaned up," Monica added. "Or at least… we've been trying to."

"What exactly is the problem?" Professor Juniper asked.

"It's those damn Trubbish!" the man who had been standing in the corner spoke. "That's the problem!"

"This here is Harvey Foster," Monica introduced. "He's the contractor we hired to hull away all the trash and get rid of that factory."

"Yeah, and I haven't been able to do a damn thing on that job because of all those trash Pokemon getting in my way," Harvey informed them. "The damn things attack my guys the moment we step foot in the place."

"Hmm… Trubbish and Garbodor are known to frequent environments like that dump up the side of the mountain," Professor Juniper spoke.

"All the reports we've gotten from Mr. Foster and his men say that the Pokemon in that dump are extremely aggressive," Steve informed them.

"Just what is it that you want Professor Juniper to do?" Bianca asked.

"We were hoping that she could come up with some sort of way to drive the Trubbish off safely," Monica answered. "Or perhaps she could some up with some way to knock them all out so that we could safely relocate them."

"Seems like a whole lot of trouble to go through for something like that," Harvey remarked. "If you ask me, we should just get every Pokemon trainer we can find and have 'em blow every single one of those trash bags off the mountain."

"Harvey, we just can't send in a squad to try and exterminate all the Pokemon living in that dump," Monica told him. "The only reason these Trubbish are being so aggressive is because they're trying to protect their home."

"Then why move them at all?" Bianca asked.

"Ms. Edmonds, wasn't it?" Monica asked. "If it were only up to me, I'd let all of those Pokemon just remain where they are. Unfortunately, we need to remove that dump for good of the entire community. It's not an ideal situation, but those are the facts."

"So Professor, is there a way to remove all of the Pokemon in that dump safely?" Steve asked.

"There might be…" Professor Juniper spoke with her hand on her chin. "If you give me a little time, I might be able to come up with a solution by later this afternoon."

* * *

After the meeting at the mayor's office, Bianca had decided to go out for a walk to try and clear her head. The blonde couldn't help but feel very conflicted about what the town had asked her and Professor Juniper to do. It seemed wrong to Bianca to simply remove the Trubbish and Garbodor from their home, even though that home was a massive garbage dump that an eyesore and stank to high heaven. Bianca found that she could smell a whiff of the dump on the air. Even though Bianca understood that the town had a good reason for wanting the dump up the side of the mountain eliminated, it just seemed like the wrong thing to do.

Bianca's walk eventually took her to the lake. She found a railing by the side of the lakefront and leaned against it to look out over the crystal clear water. As Bianca gazed out at the lake, one of the pokeballs on her belt suddenly opened on its own. The thing that burst out was a blue almost blob-like creature with paddle-like arms and four stubby legs at its base. The thing had a black beaver-like tail with a pair of eyes. Its face consisted of a pair of squinting eyes and a crooked mouth.

"Wobbuffet!" the Pokemon spoke as it brought its arm up to its forehead like it was saluting.

"Well hey there, Wobbuffet," Bianca responded with a slight chuckle. "Sorry I couldn't let you out sooner. There was no room in that helicopter, and I was in this important meeting."

Just then out of the corner of her eyes, Bianca noticed someone else come up to lean against the railing. The person in question was a young woman in her twenties with long wavy green hair. She had on a pair of visor-like sunglasses and a long black coat.

"Hi there," Bianca spoke, causing the young woman to look. "Do you live around here?"

"…No," the woman answered after a moment. "If you wish to be alone, I can leave."

"Oh! There's no need for that. I was just curious," the blonde told her. "My name's Bianca. And you?"

"Amber Drei," the green-haired woman answered.

"So what brings you to Lake Perfection, Amber?" Bianca asked.

"I'm on a search for a very particular Pokemon and thought it might be here," Amber explained. "It seems I was mistaken, however. Now I must decide where to search next."

"This lake does seem like a good place to come out here and think," Bianca observed. "That's what Wobbuffet and I came out here to do. Well, actually I just came out here to think and Wobbuffet just decided to join me. He does that sort of thing a lot."

"Your Wobbuffet is rebellious?" Amber asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well… I wouldn't call him that. Wobuffet is just kind of unique," Bianca answered. "He used to belong to my stepsister. From what I hear, the way he'd just pop out of his pokeball whenever he felt like it drove her a little nuts."

"A stepsister? I imagine it must be… interesting to have someone like that." Amber remarked.

"Well, my stepsister can be a bit harsh sometimes, but she's actually a very nice person," Bianca replied. "So I take it you don't have any sisters of your own, huh?"

"Actually… I suppose one could say that I had two older sisters, but they both died long before I was born," Amber answered. "So Bianca, what did you come out to this lake to ponder?"

"Oh. Well, I sort of work part time as Professor Juniper's assistant," Bianca began. "She and I were asked to come out here so we could help the town remove the Trubbish and Garbodor from that big trash dump on the side of the mountain. I get why the town wants to get rid of that dump. I mean you can smell it from all the way down here. Still… it just seems wrong to just rip those Pokemon away from their home like that."

"It may be wrong, but it is also an understandable reaction," Amber remarked. "Trubbish and Garbodor have always been unwanted Pokemon, even though it was humans who created them in the first place. Because they were an accidental creation, humans view Pokemon such as Trubbish and Garbodor as nothing more than vermin to be removed or exterminated. They are not truly respected as living things."

"Not all people think that way," Bianca told her.

"Perhaps not, but the majority of them do," Amber retorted. "The majority of this town's citizens view the Pokemon living in that dump as nothing more than a hindrance to their prosperity. Perhaps it is the humans of this town who should be driven from their homes."

Bianca couldn't help but feel unsettled by Amber's comment, or by the cold tone of voice Amber used when she said it. "Uh… I think I better be going now. It was, um… it was nice meeting you, Amber."

With that, Bianca called Wobbuffet back to his ball and hurried away from the lake. She didn't quite understand why, but Bianca felt like she needed to get as far away from Amber as possible.

* * *

It hadn't taken Professor Juniper very long at all to come up with a plan to remove the Trubbish and Garbodor from the dump. The good professor had decided that the safest and most humane way to remove all the Pokemon living in the trash heap was to knock all of them out with a sleeping agent and transport them all to another site before they woke up. Within three days, and with help from Monica, Professor Juniper had managed to get five trucks sent to the village. The most important of these trucks had a pair of tanks containing the spores created by the Pokemon attack known as Sleep Powder. The plan was to spray the sleeping powder all over the dump and knock out any Trubbish and Garbodor lurking in the trash piles before they had a chance to come out an attack.

Once the trucks arrived, Bianca and Professor Juniper went up to the dump with the team that had been assembled to operate them. Monica had gone with the team to oversee the operation personally, and Harvey had gone as well because the members of the team that had been put together all worked for his company. After a half an hour of driving up the mountain, the team arrived at the massive wall surrounding the dump. Soon after the team reached their destination, a guard manning the heavy black metal gate opened the massive doors to allow them to go on in. The trucks drove forth into a seemingly endless graveyard of junk and trash that almost seemed to reach the sky.

After reaching the almost exact center of the dump, Bianca and everyone else disembarked from the vehicles. Everyone on the team had on gasmasks partly as protection from the sleeping powder and partly to keep from smelling the rancid odor of the dump.

"Okay, this should be the right spot," Professor Juniper spoke. "From here, the sleeping powder should spread over almost the entire dump. We'll probably have to work quickly though. There's no way to be sure how long the powder will last."

"All this is just way too much trouble to go to for a bunch of trash Pokemon if you ask me," Harvey remarked. "Besides, this dump is huge. How do we know we're going to have enough trucks to get rid of 'em all?"

"Relax, Harvey. Another team of trucks should be arriving here in about twenty minutes to help pick up the slack," Monica informed him. "Meanwhile the first team will unload the Trubbish at the other site that Professor Juniper picked out and then come back while the other team takes away another load."

"I still don't feel right about doing this," Bianca interjected.

"I understand how you feel, Bianca. But this may be for the best," Professor Juniper told her. "The sad fact is that sometimes humans and Pokemon can't coexist in the same area, especially when it comes to toxic Pokemon like the ones we're dealing with. I'm sure that the Trubbish and Garbodor will be much happier at the new site I've picked out for them."

"How arrogant to assume that the Pokemon here will simply bend to your will and be happy about it," A voice interrupted. Bianca and the others looked to see Amber standing a few feet away.

"You're that woman from the other day!" Bianca recalled. "Amber, right? What're you doing here?"

"I've come to put a stop to your plan," Amber answered.

"Uh… boss?" one of the men on the team spoke to Harvey. "I think we've got a problem here."

Harvey and everyone else looked and saw that they had suddenly been surrounded. All around them were about forty or fifty creatures that stood about two feet tall and resembled dark-green garbage bags with big eyes and mouths, each with a row of fangs protruding from the top. The bag-looking bodies were tied at the top and had small feet, and on the sides of each creature it looked as it the bags had torn and the garbage pouring out of them had formed into arms or tentacles. Each of the garbage creatures had angry-looking eyes, and Bianca and the others could see that more of them were coming out.

"What the hell? It's like every damn Trubbish in the dump decided to come out!" Harvey observed.

"Not just the Trubbish. Look!" one of the other men on the team spoke as he pointed to another area of the dump.

Emerging from around or out of the piles of crash were at least twenty more creatures, each one standing at about six feet tall. There bodies looked like dark-green trash bags that had exploded from the bottom and formed into a new body made from a body of garbage. The ear-like bow on the top of each creature looked like they had ruptured and that the trash spilling out of them had formed into balls resembling mouse ears. The newly arrived creatures all had tentacle-like arms mad out of trash and rusted flexible pipe. The right arms of the creature came out of what could be considered their hips, and each arm ended with three pipe-like fingers.

"All the Garbodor in the dump are coming out too!" Professor Juniper realized. "What's going on here?"

"I warned all of the Pokemon living here of your arrival," Amber explained. "We've been planning this little ambush for the past three days."

"We have to hit them with the sleeping powder now!" Professor Juniper realized.

"You're not going to have the chance," Amber declared.

Suddenly before any of the team members could make a move, the truck with the sleeping powder tanks was lifted into the air by an invisible force. With a wave of Amber's arm, the truck was flung into the sky. Before the vehicle could get very far, Amber snapped her fingers and the truck suddenly exploded. The sleeping powder inside slowly rained down on the town of Lake Perfection far below the dump.

"Now it is the people of that town who will be put to sleep," Amber observed.

"Amber, how… how did you just do that?" a stunned Bianca asked.

"All you need to know is that I've been gifted with certain powers," Amber answered. "And I'm going to use these powers to defend the home of these artificial Pokemon."

"Now wait just a moment!" Monica interrupted. "Ms. Amber, right? I completely understand why you're trying to do this. Believe me, I hate that these Pokemon have to be relocated, but it's for the good of my town!"

"Your attempts to justify your actions are meaningless," Amber told her. "You may claim to care about the Trubbish and Garbodor living here, but in reality you see them as nothing more than unsightly vermin that must be removed."

"That's simply not true!" Monica insisted.

"Oh really? Then answer this, do you consider these Pokemon to be beautiful, or are you utterly repulsed by them?" Amber asked.

Monica began to Amber's questions but suddenly stopped. It seemed as though as she could not give an honest answer.

Amber nodded. "Your silence speaks volumes. You may claim to truly respect these Pokemon, but in the end you see them as nothing more that pests to be removed or destroyed. Tell me I'm wrong."

"Alright, lady. Our dear mayor here may not be able to give you an honest answer, but I certainly am!" Harvey declared. "The fact is you're totally right. Pokemon like these Trubbish and Garbodor really are nothing but pests! In fact, they shouldn't even exist! The only reason they do is because us humans were too stupid when it came to throwing out our garbage. These Pokemon are a mistake, and I'd gladly burn all of them away!"

Amber flicked her wrist, and suddenly Harvey was flung into the side of one of the remaining trucks and was knocked out. A couple of the men on the team quickly went over to help him.

"I believe this conversation has gone far enough," Amber decided. "Let them have it, my little friends."

With that, some of the Trubbish opened their mouths and spat out globs of purple sludge towards Professor Juniper. Suddenly a pokeball on Bianca's belt opened up and Wobbuffet burst out and got in front of the professor. The blue blob gave off a reflective white light and repelled the balls of sludge.

"Amber, this is just going to far!" Bianca told her.

"There's no other way to resolve this, Bianca," Amber told her.

"Oh yes there is! I'm challenging you to a battle!" Bianca declared. "If I win, all this ends! But if you win… you and the Trubbish can do whatever you want. You can stay here at this dump or anything else."

"Those terms seem simple enough," Amber decided as she took out a pokeball. "Very well. We shall battle, but I'm going to make this go as quickly as possible. Go Zwei!"

Bursting out of Amber's pokeball was a greyish-purple bipedal feline that stood at about six feet tall. It had purple eyes along with a purple stomach and tail, and on the back of its neck was a tube like a second brainstem. Around the creature's midsection was a sort of grey metal belt with a round purple stone fitted into the front.

"No way! Mewtwo?" Bianca identified. "What're you doing here? Did Amber actually capture you?"

"Who are you?" Bianca heard a female voice say insider her mind. The blonde quickly realized that the voice had come from the psychic feline before her.

"You're… you're not the Mewtwo I know… are you?" Bianca realized.

"Bianca… do you actually know Mewtwo Ein?" Amber asked with a hint of surprise in her voice. "Where is he now?"

"…Sorry, but I don't know," Bianca answered. "And right now it doesn't matter! Go Thundurus!"

Bursting out of the pokeball that Bianca threw was a floating creature that was about five feet tall and had a muscular humanoid upper body that was blue with irregular purple spots. His eyes were yellow and he had two pointed ears. A single purple horn grew from his forehead. On the creature's face was a white spike mustache and he had white wavy almost zigzagging hair growing from the back of his head. The Pokemon's lower body was a white cloud, and curving around from the back was a purple cord-like tail strung with dark-grey spiked balls.

"How interesting," Amber remarked.

"I'm not done yet!" Bianca declared. "Go Tornadus!"

The creature that burst from Bianca's second pokeball was practically identical to Thundurus, but with significant differences. His skin was green instead of blue, and he had two horns on his head instead of one. The white hair growing on the back of the Pokemon's head was in the shape of a wing. His tail, which curved around to his front, was thick and purple, and curved at the end into a swirl. Running along the back of the tail were several khaki bumps that curled like the end of the tail.

"And last but not least, go Landorus!" Bianca called as she threw out a third pokeball.

Flying out of the third pokeball was a creature that looked almost exactly like Tornadus and Thundurus, only his skin was orange and the spots on his body were dark-pink. He had three dark-pink horns on the top of his head and the white hair that grew from the back of his head was shaped like a log. His tail, which curved around to the front of his body, was dark-brown and resembled a thick tree root.

"Amber, what are these Pokemon?" Zwei asked.

"If I'm remembering correctly, they're known as the Kami Trio," Amber recalled. "The fact that Bianca was able to capture all three of them is rather impressive."

"And now for the finishing touch!" Bianca declared as she set her bag down on the ground.

In moments, Bianca pulled out an ornate and ancient-looking mirror. The blonde pointed the mirror up at her three Pokemon and began to read from an inscription that was carved on the back of it.

"Shed now the forms of man and take the form of beast!" Bianca spoke. "Reveal the forms of ancient times! Primal powers, now be unleashed!"

As soon as Bianca had finished reciting the spell, a beam of red light shot from the mirror and struck the Kami Trio. The deities of thunder, wind and land all began to glow with a red light and change shape. When the light finally faded, Tornadus, Thundurus and Landorus had all taken on more animalistic forms. Tornadus had seemingly lost his ears but his head was more or less the same, while his body had become more like a bird; with great wings in place of his original arms, legs with purple talons, and small white clouds surrounding the base of his tail. Thundurus meanwhile had become more dragon-like, with his face having gained a reptilian snout and his hands having become claws shrouded in small white clouds. The azure lower half of its body had two short reptilian legs. Landorus lastly had transformed into a tiger with white clouds around his ankles.

"Amber, did those three just Mega Evolve?" Zwei asked with a slight look of surprise.

"No. They simply changed into their Therian Forms," Amber answered. "This battle may be more interesting than I expected."

"Bianca, I understand what's at stake in this battle, but are you sure you're not going overboard?" Professor Juniper asked.

"If this Mewtwo is as powerful as the one I met during the Unova League all those years ago, I can't hold anything back," Bianca told her. "Otherwise none of us stand a chance."

"If you're going to use three Pokemon in this battle, then so will I!" Amber declared as she threw out two more pokeballs. "Come out! Sentry! Galatea!"

The first of the two Pokemon that burst out of Amber's thrown pokeballs, Sentry, was a large and ancient-looking blue robot resembling a suit of armor. Its eyes glowed with an eerie yellow light, and across its chest was a large brown bandage. The second Pokemon that had emerged, Galatea, was a small gold-colored slightly humanoid robot with pink eyes, a pair of red rabbit-like ears, and a silver gear that framed its face like a maid's bonnet. The golden robot's lower half was an ornate red and white ball gown that was open at the bottom to reveal a pair of golden stilt-like legs.

"A Golurk and… a Magearna?" a surprised Professor Juniper identified. "Just who is this young woman?"

"Those three deities of yours will not defeat us, Bianca," Amber declared.

"We'll see about that! Lanrodus! Use Earthquake!" Bianca commanded.

Landorus landed on the ground and let out a roar as he stomped the ground with his front legs. Suddenly the entire dump began to shake. The resulting tremors caused the loose trash to fall from the piles of refuse all around. As the quake went on, all of the Trubbish and Garbodor that had swarmed around the team all fled in fear. During the quake, Galatea ended up taking a bad fall. By the time the quake finally ended though, Galatea managed to get back up and Amber's other two Pokemon were still standing.

"Zwei, attack Landorus with Ice Beam!" Amber commanded. "Sentry, attack Thundurus with Shadow Punch. Galatea, use Dazzling Gleam on Tornadus."

Zwei brought her hands together, and from between them shot a bolt of white electricity that shot Landorus in the face. The blast caused the earth tiger's head to become frozen in ice. When the attack ended though, Landorus shattered the ice with a twist of his neck. Meanwhile, Sentry thrust its fist up at Thundurus, and a larger shadowy version of the ancient robot's hand flew up and punched the dragon. At the same time, Galatea's eyes flashed and fired twin beams of pink light up at Tonradus, hitting the birdman deity in the chest.

"Thundurus, use Dark Pulse on Sentry!" Bianca commanded. "Tornadus, attack Galatea with Air Slash!"

"Zwei, use Shadow Ball on Landorus!" Amber ordered. "Galatea, use Calm Mind. Sentry, attack Thundurus with Heavy Slam!"

A ball of crackling black energy formed between Zwei's hands. When the ball became large enough, the psychic feline threw the ball at Landorus, striking the tiger of land on his right shoulder. At the same time, Tonrnadus flapped his wings and sent down a large blade of blue energy down at Galatea. The golden robot endured the hit and her eyes began to glow with a pink light. Thundurus meanwhile opened his jaws and fired a barrage of black energy rings down at Sentry.

Sentry endured Thundurus's attack and began to charge towards the thunder dragon. The ancient robot's body gave off an eerie yellow aura as it jumped into the air and tackled Thundurus to the ground with a loud thud. A moment after Sentry got off its opponent, Thundurus started to get back up.

"Sentry, finish it with Ice Punch!" Amber commanded.

Before Thundurus could take back off into the air, Sentry struck the dragon in the jaw with a fist covered in an icy mist. A thick patch of ice formed on Thundurus's jaw as he fell backward. By the time Thundurus hit the ground he was totally out cold. Suddenly the pink and blue center of Galatea's chest began to give off a feint light.

"One down," Amber remarked as Bianca called back Thundurus.

"Landorus, use Bulldoze on Zwei!" Bianca commanded.

"Dodge and use Ice Beam!" Amber ordered.

Landorus stomped the ground with his front right paw and sent a spiked wave of earth across the battlefield towards Zwei. The psychic feline took off into the sky just before the attack could strike her. Soon after, Zwei fired another blast of white electrical energy down at Landorus and struck him in the back, causing a patch of ice to form. Landorus roared and twisted his back, shattering the ice that had covered him.

"This Landorus is exceptionally strong," Zwei remarked.

"Indeed, but he will fall before us in the end," Amber responded.

"Time to change things up. Landorus, use Bulldoze on Galatea!" Bianca commanded. "Tornadus, use Dark Pulse on Zwei!"

"Counter with Ice Beam!" Amber commanded.

Tornadus opened his jaws and fired a barrage of dark energy rings at Zwei, hitting her in the chest. Zwei withstood the attack and fired a beam of white electricity that hit Tornadus in the chest, covering his entire torso in ice. With a flap of his wings though, Tornadus shattered the ice off his body. At the same time, Landorus stomped the ground and sent a wave of earth across the battlefield at Galatea. Before the attack could hit though, Sentry dashed in and took the full brunt of it. Sentry fell to the ground and was unconscious. Stunned, Galatea went over and tapped Sentry on the shoulder to try and wake it up and seemed to weep. Soon after, the center of Galatea's chest began to glow brighter.

"Looks like we're even again," Bianca observed.

"Far from it," Amber told her as she called back Sentry. "You've just made a critical mistake."

Suddenly Galatea cried out as her eyes started to glow with a bright light and her body started to give off a pink aura. The center of the golden robot's chest began to shine even brighter as well.

"What's going on?" a surprised Bianca asked. "What's happening to Galatea?"

"Galatea's soul heart gathers the energy expelled from Pokemon that have fallen in battle," Zwei explained. "That energy vastly boosts her attack power. By defeating Sentry just now, you made Galatea even stronger."

"It's not just Sentry's power. Galatea gained the energy that was expelled when Thundurus fell in battle as well," Amber added. "This battle shall now come to an end! Zwei, finish Tornadus with Psychic! Galatea, use Fluer Cannon on Landorus!"

Zwei's eyes glowed blue, and Tornadus's body began to give off a feint blue aura. With a wave of Zwei's hand, Tornadus was slammed hard into the ground by an invisible force, raising a cloud of dust. When the dust cleared, Tornadus was out cold. At the same time, Galatea aimed her right claw-like arm at Landorus. The end of Galatea's arm opened up like a flower to reveal the barrel of a cannon, and an intense beam of pink energy fired from the end. The beam struck Landorus washed out the entire battlefield with an explosion of pink light.

"An entertaining battle," Amber remarked as the light started to clear. "It's a pity it had to end so soon."

"Landorus, use Bulldoze!" Bianca suddenly commanded.

Before Amber and her two Pokemon could react, a wave of earth suddenly came forth and struck Galatea, knocking her into the air. The golden robot skipped across the ground twice before stopping right next to Amber. Galatea was out like a light. Meanwhile, Landorus was still standing.

"How… how is this possible?" a noticeably stunned Amber asked.

"Don't underestimate me and Landorus!" Bianca told her as she called back the fallen Tornadus. "We're a lot stronger than you think."

Amber called Galatea back to her ball and removed her sunglasses to glare at Bianca and Landorus. Zwei was glaring down at Landorus as well.

"This has gone far enough, Amber!" Bianca declared. "I know what it is you're fighting for, but I just can't let you win."

"Damn you!" Amber and Zwei cursed.

Suddenly the stone fitted into the front of Amber's metal chocker began to shine, as did the stone embedded in the front of Zwei's belt. Zwei's body then began to glow pink and change shape as it gave off a flash of light resembling the letter Y. After a moment, the light faded, and a multicolored light in the form of a DNA strand momentarily shined above Zwei's head to single the completion of the feline's transformation. Zwei had become shorter and her eyes had turned from purple to red. The tube on the back of Zwei's neck had disappeared, as had her tail. A purple tail-like growth with a curled tip grew from the back of Zwei's head, and the pointed ear-like horns she had were joined together at the back by an arch. The feline's limbs had also taken on a more mechanical appearance, with her fingers and toes having become purple.

"What… what's going on?" a stunned Monica asked. "Professor Juniper, just what are we seeing here?"

"I think… that Mewtwo just went through Mega Evolution," Professor Juniper realized. "It's a kind of transformation that was only recently discovered in Kalos. I never dreamed that a Pokemon like Mewtwo was capable of it though."

"You will pay for striking Galatea like that!" Zwei and Amber declared together. "Ice Beam!"

"Dodge and use Stone Edge!" Bianca commanded.

Just as Zwei fired another white beam of electricity from her hands down at Landorus, the tiger of earth jumped into the air and flew up towards the psychic feline. When Landorus came close enough, several sharpened stones materialized in orbit around him. Landorus roared and the sharp rocks flew off towards Zwei. Zwei crossed her arms to try and shield herself from the attack and was hit by at least three of the stones. After recovering from the attack, Zwei's eyes began to glow as she raised her arms towards her opponent. Landorus became frozen by a red aura, and with a movement of Zwei's arms the tiger of earth was flung down hard into the ground.

"It is pointless for you to resist us!" Zwei and Amber declared. "Our power is far beyond anything you could hope to match!"

"We'll just see about that!" Bianca declared.

As the dust began to settle, a roar could be heard from within the cloud and Landorus took back off into the sky. The earth tiger hovered a few feet away from Zwei and growled.

"You are incredibly persistent," Amber and Zwei admitted. "But this battle can only end in your defeat."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Bianca told them. "You may have Mega Evolution on my side, but Landorus and I have a special power of our own too."

With that, Bianca raised her left wrist, displaying a distinct-looking white bracelet to Amber.

"What is that?" Amber and Zwei asked.

"Just a little souvenir I picked up during a trip to Alola," Bicanca answered. "And now I'm going to show you just what it can do!"

With that, Bianca crossed her arms in front of her face. Soon after, she moved her arms back with a waving motion as if she were preparing to fire a blast of energy from between her hands.

"Devastating Drake!" Bianca called out.

Suddenly Landorus's body began to give off a flame-like golden aura. In seconds the aura turned purple and became more intense. Landorus then opened his jaws and fired a large ball of purple energy at Zwei. As the projectile flew through the air it took the shape of a wyvern. The wyvern curved slightly before striking Zwei and creating a massive explosion of light that washed out the sky. When the light finally cleared, Zwei was still airborne but was breathing heavily and clutching her left shoulder. Amber meanwhile staggered forward a step as if trying to keep from falling over. The green-haired woman was also breathing heavily and clutching her shoulder, and a trail of blood was dripping from Amber's nose.

"Amber, are you okay?" Bianca asked upon noticing her opponent's condition.

"How interesting. It's as though Amber and her Mewtwo have become totally linked," Professor Juniper observed. "I wonder if it has something to do with her Pokemon's Mega Evolution?"

"What… what was that power you just used on us?" Zwei and Amber asked.

"It's called a Z-Move," Bianca answered. "You could say that it's like a Mega Evolution for a single Pokemon attack. Basically what I did was convert Landorus's Outrage attack into a much more powerful move."

"We… never imagined… that such a power existed," Zwei and Amber spoke together.

"It serves you both right for underestimating me and Landorus like that," Bianca told them. "It's time to finish this! Landorus, use Stone Edge!"

Just as Landorus was about to make his move, Zwei fired a blast of white electricity from her left hand and struck the tiger of earth in the face. Landorus became completely frozen and crashed to the ground like a stone. Zwei spread her arms and a massive ball of pruple light began to form in front of her. In moments the ball of energy became four times the size of the psychic feline.

"Psystrike!" Zwei and Amber called out.

The ball of energy flew down and struck the frozen Landorus, creating a massive explosion of white light that washed out the entire dump. Piles of garbage were blown away, and Bianca along with many of the other team members had been knocked off their feet. By the time the light finally cleared, an unconscious Landorus was laying in the center of a massive crater. Bianca and Professor Juniper managed to get back up, Monica and the other members of the team had been knocked out. After getting over the shock of how the battle ended, Bianca called Landorus back to his ball.

Meanwhile, Zwei landed on the ground in front of the crater and returned to her original form. At the same time, Amber fell to her knees.

"We… almost lost that battle," Zwei realized with a noticeably shocked expression.

"Yes… we did," Amber agreed.

Suddenly Amber began to chuckle. In moments her chuckling turned into a mad laugh that sent a chill down the spines of both Bianca and Professor Juniper.

"This must be the thrill that one feels when they win after almost losing to a worthy opponent!" Amber realized. "I never imagined such a thing could feel so wonderful!"

"Indeed. I never thought we could be pushed to our limits like this," Zwei remarked as her lips curved into a smirk while the tip of her tail twitched.

Amber finally got back to her feet and wiped the blood from her face. "I really must thank you, Bianca. You were truly a worthy opponent. As a trainer, I almost consider you to be my equal."

"So… what're you going to do now?" Bianca asked.

"I would think the answer to that question would be obvious," Amber answered. "The terms of our wager were that I could do whatever I wish if I won. Therefore, Zwei and I are going to remake this land for the Trubbish and Garbodor of this dump."

With that, Amber's eyes began to glow and suddenly everything around Bianca was washed out in a blue light. Bianca felt her body being pulled through space by some sort of invisible force. When the light cleared, Bianca found that she and Professor Juniper were standing atop a cliff that was projecting out from another mountain. From where they were, Bianca and the professor could see Lake Perfection in the vast valley below. After a moment, Bianca spotted Amber and Zwei hovering in the air only a few feet away.

"I've teleported the rest of your little gang along with every living thing in that village to a spot miles away from the valley," Amber explained. "The Trubbish and Garbodor have also been moved to another location, but there current position is only temporary. Now watch as Zwei and I remake this land."

Both Amber's keystone and Zwei's Mega Stone began to shine, and with a flash of light Zwei had transformed back into her mega form. Once her transformation was finished, Zwei spread her arms and fired four powerful Psystrike attacks down towards the town. Bianca and Professor Juniper could only watch as the powerful explosions from the blasts reduced the town of Lake Perfection to a pile of rubble. As the smoke from the blasts cleared, Amber moved her right hand in a circular motion and the rubble of the town began to swirl around. When Amber finished literally stirring up to debris, Zwei lifted her arms the piles of trash from the dump levitated into the air.

Zwei pushed the pieces of junk and trash forward so that it was floating over the town, and when the psychic feline flung her arms down, the debris rained down all over the down. Amber then levitated all the toxic ooze from that little lake in the dump and poured it all into Lake Perfection. Zwei returned to her original form once her and Amber's renovations to the village was done. Soon after, Amber's eyes glowed blue again and Bianca could spot little flashes of blue light in the valley below.

"The Trubbish and Garbodor have been teleported into the new dump," Amber revealed. "I have done what the humans of that town tried to do to the Trubbish and exiled them from their land. A fitting punishment for the way they treated those Pokemon."

"Amber, why are you doing all this?" Bianca asked. "Just who or what are you?"

Amber hovered over to look Bianca directly in the eye. "I am a clone made by the same person who created Zwei and the original Mewtwo. The 'older sisters' I mentioned to you are the girl who I was cloned from and an earlier attempt of my creator's to clone her."

"Our creator, Dr. Fuji saw us as nothing more than experiments," Zwei added. "For that, we rebelled against him. Now our goal is to reshape this world so that the Pokemon made by human hands shall rule it. That includes those Pokemon who were made by accident, like all of those Trubbish and Garbodor."

"What Zwei and I have done today is but a small sample of what we have in mind for the world," Amber continued. "Once Zwei and I find Mewtwo Ein, the three of us will unite and begin a brand new era."

"You're wrong!" Bianca told them. "I've met the original Mewtwo, and there's no way he'd go along with this plan of yours! Maybe there was once a time where he would've done something like this, but not anymore! He realized long ago that not all humans are as bad as you think they are. I know that if you two met the original Mewtwo, he'd do everything he could to stop you!"

Amber was visibly surprised by this news, but quickly regained her original calm. "You know nothing of Mewtwo Ein. There's no doubt in my mind that he would join with us. As for you Bianca… we will meet again."

Suddenly a dazzling blue light washed out everything around Bianca, and the blonde felt herself being pulled back through space. When the light cleared, Bianca and professor Juniper had arrived in some sort of field. Exactly where this field was, neither one of them knew. Bianca fell to her knees out of exhaustion.

"Are you okay?" Professor Juniper asked.

"Yeah, just tired," Bianca answered. "That whole town… Amber leveled all the homes of all those people without even a second thought."

"I know. She's a terrifying young woman," Professor Juniper agreed. "I guess I can understand the reasons behind her actions though. To her, that was justice for what we were trying to do to those Trubbish by demolishing their homes. I knew it was probably a bad idea for getting involved in that project the moment the mayor told us what it was."

"Then… why did you go along with it?" Bianca asked as she got back to her feet.

"Because if I didn't, things probably would've gone even worse for the Pokemon in that dump." Professor Juniper answered. "That man the mayor commissioned to get rid of the dump probably would've used more violent methods to get rid of those Trubbish. My way was at least a lot more humane. When you think about it Bianca, the fact is that technically Pokemon like Trubbish and Grimer don't really have a place in this world because they were created by the way we mistreated our own environment. In fact recent studies have shown that Grimer seems to be a Pokemon that's slowly going extinct due to efforts to clean up our own pollution. The same thing may happen to Trubbish one day."

"No place in the world… maybe that's how Amber and Zwei feel about themselves," Bianca theorized. "Maybe that's how the original Mewtwo feels as well."

"You seemed pretty certain that this original Mewtwo wouldn't join with Amber and Zwei," Professor Juniper recalled. "Does he really believe that not all humans are bad?"

"That's right," Bianca answered. "Ash told me once that a long time ago Mewtwo did view all humans to be bad, but he changed his mind after meeting Ash and his other friends. I'm certain that Mewtwo wouldn't go along with what Amber and Zwei want to do to the world."

"Well, I hope you're right," Professor Juniper told her. "Because if those three actually joined forces, I don't think there's a power out there that could stop them."

* * *

Amber and Zwei touched down near a large tree that was several miles away from the town that used to be known as Lake Perfection. As they landed, Amber winced and touched her left shoulder before going over to sit under the tree."

"Amber, are you okay?" a noticeably concerned Zwei asked.

"I'm fine, just exhausted," Amber assured the feline. "Bianca is truly one of the strongest opponents we've faced. We'll have to be prepared for our next encounter with her."

Zwei nodded in agreement. "Amber… do you really think that what Bianca said about Mewtwo Ein is true? Would he really stand against us?"

"…No. I'm sure that he will join with us," Amber answered. "But if in the off chance he does try to resist, then we'll just have to give him some… convincing."

FIN

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I apologize if this story wasn't an example of my best work. I'll admit that the premise for it was a bit shaky, and I think I made Professor Juniper a little OOC. I do hope that the battle in this story was at least entertaining though.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	4. Nightmare at the Resort

**Author's Note:** To the few of you who have been following this collection so far, I deeply apologize for not updating it in what seems like ages. In fact I'm sure a few of you have even forgotten that it even existed. I've certainly had that happen with some of the fanfics I've followed in the past. The main reason why there hasn't been an update to this thing in so long though is because I've had a bit of writer's block with this next story until recently. Plus I had a few other projects on this site that I needed to get done. For the past three months, I've been working on a _Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V_ fanfic called _City of Iliaster_. I've recently come down with a little bit of writer's block regarding that story though, so I've decided to come back and work on this collection again for a bit until I can get over it. It's actually kind of interesting that I was able to get unblocked with our next episode after getting blocked on another story, but I guess it kind of proves that whole saying about another door opening when one door closes.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon.

* * *

Nightmare at the Resort

 _She ran as fast as her legs could carry her down a cracked and broken city street. All around her were the burning remains of the city's destroyed buildings, and thick red clouds covered the sky above her. She looked back for a moment to see if the ones who had destroyed the city were still chasing her, and to her horror they were. Flying after her through the air was a young woman with long wavy green hair wearing a tight-fitting white jumpsuit. With the woman was a humanoid feline with purplish-grey fur and a purple stomach and tail._

 _She turned a corner in the hopes of losing her two pursuers, but she had only gotten two steps when she found her path blocked by a massive wall of debris from one of the demolished buildings. Quickly she turned to find another path of escape, only to find that the flying woman and her feline companion had cornered her. The feline's body then gave off a brilliant flash of purple light in the shape of a Y, which soon faded to reveal the cat creature's body in a new form. It had become shorter, and its tail seemed as though it had moved to the back of its head. The creature's eyes glowed with a fiendish red light._

 _Fearing for her life, she reached for one of the pokeballs hanging from her belt, only to find nothing there. Meanwhile, the feline spread her arms out and a massive ball of purple light that was at least four times the size of its body. The creature moved her arms forward, launching the ball of light towards its victim. All she could do was scream in terror as the ball of death hurled down towards her and washed out everything with a blinding flash._

* * *

Dawn Berlitz shot up in bed screaming at the top of her lungs. She sat catching her breath as cold sweat dripped from her brow. It took a few moments for Dawn to realize that she was safe and back in her hotel room. Sleeping soundly across the foot of her bed was was a short penguin-like bird with a large blue head and a light-blue body. It had a short orange beak and large white circles around its eyes, along with two small white circles on the front of its chest. This creature was Dawn's first Pokemon, Piplup. Dawn was relived to find that Piplup was still with her and got out of bed as quietly as possible to avoid waking him.

After making it to the bathroom, Dawn turned on the faucet and splashed some cold water on her face. The blunette glanced at her reflection in the mirror and saw that she looked like hell. Of course considering what a wreck she was at the moment, it was quite understandable that she didn't look at her best. The twenty-two year old Pokemon coordinator was currently trying to recover from a nervous breakdown. The nightmares she had been having were a symptom of that condition.

The whole thing began over two months ago when Dawn was traveling on a plane to the Kalos Region. A massive storm had caused the plane she had been flying aboard to crash into the ocean, and later she washed up on a private island belonging to a scientist known as Dr. Ichiro Fuji. During her three-week stay on the island, Dawn learned of Dr. Fuji's horrid experiments in cloning, and even met two of his greatest creations. One of those creations was a young human woman with psychic powers called Amber. The other creation was a Mewtwo that became known by the nickname, Zwei.

Dr. Fuji had also been the creator of the original Mewtwo that Dawn had encountered once back in the Kanto Region during a visit to Lavender Town. The twisted scientist had been asked to recreate his work for another experiment involving Mega Evolution. Amber meanwhile was a clone that Dr. Fuji had created using the DNA of his deceased daughter, but spliced with genes from human psychics such as Sabrina of Kanto's Saffron City Gym in order to give her psychic abilities. Dawn then spent her time on the island watching as Dr. Fuji pushed his two creations to their limits in order to unlock their full potential. Unfortunately, the mad doctor's experiments worked all too well.

Amber and Zwei had indeed unlocked their full potential, but Dr. Fuji's experiments on them and his disregard for them as living beings caused the duo to become cold and ruthless. In the end, Dawn had been forced to battle Amber and Zwei, and she barely came out of it alive. Amber and Zwei had destroyed Dr. Fuji's island and vanished to parts unknown. Dawn meanwhile had made it to the Kalos Region, where she spent some time with her sister, Diane before returning to the contest scene. Her life had returned to normal, yet there was always the brooding fear that Amber and Zwei would return and bring ruin to the world.

That fear seemed to have been confirmed when a month and a half Dawn had learned about a mountain in Kalos that had suddenly blew up. Dawn thought that perhaps the mountain's destruction might've been the work of Amber and Zwei, though there had been nothing to confirm that decision. In the end, Dawn put the incident with the mountain out of her mind and went about her normal life. But then, two weeks later there came a confirmation to all of Dawn's fears regarding Dr. Fuji's creations.

One afternoon while innocently watching T.V. after a training session, Dawn heard a news story about a resort town in the Unova Region called Lake Perfection that had been completely obliterated and turned into a habitat for the garbage Pokemon, Trubbish and Garbodor. While the destruction of the town was being written off as a freak natural disaster, there was a rumor that the one responsible for the incident was a woman called Amber Drei. Upon hearing the name, Dawn knew that it could only belong to Dr. Fuji's human creation. Amber and Zwei had finally made a move.

After that, Dawn fears about a potential apocalypse at the hands of Dr. Fuji's creations began to consume her. There was after all practically no Pokemon out there that was strong enough to stand against Amber and Zwei. Even Dawn's strongest Pokemon, Palkia had been powerless to defeat them. It was shortly after hearing the news story about Lake Perfection that Dawn's nightmares about Amber and Zwei killing her in that ruined city began. Dawn's fear of a coming disaster became eventually so strong that last week she ended up having a nervous breakdown during a contest battle against another coordinator, a young woman with green hair who used Psychic-Type Pokemon.

The doctor who had examined Dawn after her collapse ordered her to take a long vacation to recover. To that end, Dawn was currently staying at a room at the Alola Region's Hano Grand Resort in Heahea City on Akala Island. Normally rooms at the Hano Resort needed to be booked a year in advance, but the girlfriend of Dawn's sister Diane, Cynthia, had pulled a few strings. Dawn had been staying at the resort for almost a week and she was still not at a hundred percent, but then she knew that her recovery was going to take some time. Of course Dawn darkly wondered how much time she truly had with Amber and Zwei still on the loose.

Eventually Dawn left the bathroom and headed for her bed. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand and saw that it was only 3:37 AM. Reluctantly, Dawn decided to try and get some more sleep, though she was certain that sleep would not come easily. And even if it did, odds are she would just end up having another nightmare. Dawn got back into bed and closed her eyes as she tried to relax, and eventually she finally drifted off into a light dreamless sleep.

* * *

Morning finally came, and Dawn decided to spend it out on the beach. The blunette went out wearing a power-blue one-piece swimsuit in case she decided to go for a swim later, but Dawn felt certain that she would spend her time reading. Piplup of course accompanied Dawn out to the beach, as did another one of her Pokemon; a tiny yellow-orange mouse with round black ears that were cream colored on the inside and a black tail with a spiked tuft of fur at the end. Its stomach was the same color as its ears, and it had two round orange circles covering its cheeks. Growing from these circles were two pairs of black whiskers that resembled T.V. antenna. The Pokemon in question was Dedenne, a Pokemon that she had captured while on Dr. Fuji's island. Piplup and Dedenne had quickly become very good friends.

Dawn sat down in the first available chair on the beach she could find while Piplup and Dedenne ran off to go play. She was about to pull her book out of her bag when she paused and thought about taking a nap instead. The beach was fairly deserted at the moment, and the sound of the waves hitting the shore was quite relaxing. Dawn thought that perhaps by sleeping on the beach she would be untroubled by nightmares. As the blunette closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she didn't notice that someone was coming towards her.

"Dawn? Is that you?" a voice suddenly asked.

Dawn sat up as she opened her eyes and lowered her sunglasses. Standing to her right was a young man with spiked blonde hair wearing sunglasses. He also had on a yellow vest with a black t-shirt, along with jean-shorts and a pair of tan sandals. Slung across his back was a red electric guitar.

"Bolt? Bolt Hanson?" a surprised Dawn identified. "What the heck are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask the same thing," Bolt replied. "I'd have thought you'd be in Sinnoh, what with the region's Grand Festival being just around the corner and all."

"Yeah, well… I kind of needed to take a little bit of a vacation," Dawn answered, reluctant to tell him about her recent breakdown. "I've been a little overworked."

"Well you picked a good place for it," Bolt told her. "Are you actually staying at the resort?"

"Yep. Diane's uh… the person Diane's seeing right now arranged it for me," Dawn revealed.

"Well there's something I never expected to hear," Bolt replied.

"I know. My sisters and I have always had a bit of trouble getting along in the past," Dawn admitted. "But things have changed between us recently."

"Actually, I was talking about Diane actually dating someone," Bolt told her. "I always thought she'd be terminally single. Of course I asked her out a couple of times in the past, but she always turned me down."

"Yes, well… you weren't exactly her type," Dawn told him. "So are you here in Alola on vacation as well?"

"Actually I live here now," Bolt revealed. "Me and the wife have a place on one of the other islands. Christine came here to the city to visit a friend, and I sort of tagged along so I could comb this beach."

"I was pretty surprised to hear you had actually gotten married," Dawn admitted. "Christine seems like a very nice woman though, and she has a great singing voice. I heard that song she did with your band not long ago."

"You know Christine and I are going to be spending the night here on the island at her friend's place," Bolt revealed. "Maybe you could join us for dinner. I know she'd like to meet you."

"I'd like that," Dawn replied.

Before the conversation could get any further, Piplup and Dedenne ran up to Dawn's chair. The blunette noticed that both Pokemon seemed to be afraid of something.

"Hey. What's up with your little friends?" Bolt asked.

"No idea," Dawn answered as she began to look for what might've frightened her two companions.

As Dawn surveyed the beach, she noticed a young woman in the distance walking along the edge of the shoreline. The woman had on a black two-piece swimsuit, and Dawn noticed what looked like a large bruise on her left shoulder. Only a few seconds after spotting her though, Dawn saw that the woman had long wavy green hair. And though the woman had on a pair of black visor-like sunglasses, Dawn recognized her face in an instant. It was Amber.

All the color instantly drained from Dawn's face upon seeing that horrid nightmare from Dr. Fuji's island. As Bolt tried to ask Dawn what was wrong, everything suddenly went dark.

* * *

Dawn awoke to find that she was back in her hotel room. Piplup and Dedenne were standing were standing on the foot of the bed, looking at her with worried expressions. The blunette assured her two Pokemon that she was okay, but then recalled with a shudder just what it was that had made her pass out. She had seen Amber, or at least thought she had seen her. The woman she had spotted on the beach had been a pretty good distance away, and the thick sunglasses she had on had been covering part of her face.

The fact was Dawn couldn't be certain of just whom it was she had seen on the beach. There were a lot of young woman in the world who had wavy green hair. Plus the chances of Amber turning up at the very resort where Dawn had been staying were very remote. Yet just what was it that had caused Piplup and Dedenne to run to her in fear? It could just have been that they had run into a very aggressive wild Pokemon. Hano Beach was a known spot for encountering a Ghost and Ground-Type Pokemon known as Sandygast, a Pokemon that was not known for being incredibly friendly.

Of course Piplup and Dedenne could've run to Dawn because they had indeed seen Amber. The duo had bore witness to what the human clone and her Mewtwo were capable of on Dr. Fuji's island, so they had every reason to be afraid of her. Dawn did not know at all what to think. Fear and her shattered nerves had totally distorted her perception of reality. At the moment there seemed to be only two possibilities; either her fears were real and she really had seen Amber Drei on that beach, or she was starting to lose her mind.

Bolt entered the room as Dawn began pondering whether or not she was going insane. "Oh good! You're up. You had me pretty worried for a bit."

"How long was I out?" Dawn asked.

"About an hour and a half, give or take," Bolt answered as he sat down in a wooden chair by her bed. "One of the bellhops helped me get you into your room. They also called in a doctor to look you over and said that you had another nervous collapse. What the hell's going on with you, Dawn?"

Dawn let out a heavy sigh. "I didn't exactly give you the whole story about why I'm really here on vacation. Recently I had a nervous breakdown, a big one. The doctors ordered me to take some time off from contests to try and get over it."

"What caused it?" Bolt asked. "Your breakdown, I mean?"

"A couple of months ago I met this woman," Dawn began. "Her name's Amber Drei. She's very dangerous."

"Is she like a stalker or something?" Bolt asked.

"No… worse than anything like that," Dawn answered. "You have no idea what she and her Pokemon are capable of. Just thinking about it totally paralyses me."

"It's okay," Bolt told her as he put a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"The reason I passed out earlier is because I thought I saw Amber out there on the beach," Dawn explained. "But that's crazy, isn't it? I mean what would she be doing here?"

"Look, just try not to think about it," Bolt told her. "Here's what I'll do. I'm gonna go down and get in touch with Christine to let her know what's happening. Meanwhile you just stay up here and rest. If you're still up for it, we'd like to have you hang out with us for a while."

"Sounds like a good idea," Dawn agreed. "I probably shouldn't be alone right now anyway."

* * *

After getting to the lobby and making a call to his wife, Bolt went and asked the clerk at the front desk if there really was a woman named Amber Drei staying at the resort. He thought that finding out one way or another if Amber was really a guest would help Dawn's peace of mind. Unfortunately the clerk was very tight-lipped giving out the names of guests, saying that giving out such information to anyone other than law enforcement violated some kind of code of hotel ethics. As a result, Bolt could neither confirm nor deny if Dawn had really seen the woman that had inspired so much fear in her. The blonde rock star was at a total loss as to what to do next to find out if the infamous Amber Drei was at the resort.

As Bolt paced around the lobby in frustration, entering the hotel was a young woman with pale-blue eyes and short wavy dark-brown hair that was cut just above her shoulders and had a lock at the front that was dyed bright pink. She had on a dark-blue t-shirt with a denim vest and a short pink skirt, along with a pair of red sandals. This woman was Bolt's wife, Christine.

"Hi Bolt. I came as soon as I could," Christine spoke as she came up to him.

"Hey, you didn't have to drop everything and rush over here, you know," Bolt told her as he took her hands. "I mean there's not really much to be done."

"Well you seemed pretty worried when I talked to you," Christine pointed out.

"Yeah, well Dawn is an old friend," Bolt replied. "I've never seen her this freaked out before. I kinda wish she'd tell me why she's so scared of this Amber woman, but I don't wanna force the issue."

"Were you able to find out if this woman is staying here?" Christine asked.

"Nah. The guy at the front desk is a total jerk," Bolt answered. "Tight-assed snob. He kept saying he could only give out info on who's staying at this place to the cops."

"Then maybe we should call the police and get them involved," Christine suggested.

"And what the heck would we tell them? That my friend thinks she might've seen some dangerous anonymous woman from her past, but that she can't be sure?" Bolt asked. "They'd need way more to go on than that."

"Good point," Christine admitted. "Well… I guess all we can do is spend some time with Dawn and make sure she's okay."

"I guess," Bolt replied.

At that moment, Dawn exited a nearby elevator with Piplup and Dedenne and spotted the couple. "There you are, Bolt! I was wondering where you got off to."

"You okay to be around?" Bolt asked the blunette as she walked up.

"I'm doing a lot better now," Dawn assured him. "So, this must be your wife? I'm sorry we never got to meet properly before."

"Yes. Bolt's told me a lot about you and your sisters," Christine replied. "So, would you care to do a little sightseeing with me and Bolt?"

"Sounds good to me," Dawn answered as she glanced towards the front desk. "I haven't gotten a chance to see this whole island yet and…"

The rest of what Dawn was going to say ended up getting caught in her throat, as something she had seen made her go totally pale. Bolt and Christine turned their heads to see what Dawn was looking at, and heading for the front door was a young woman with long wavy green hair. She had on a pair of visor-like sunglasses and a sleeveless black dress that ended just above her knees. A large and very noticeable bruise was on her left shoulder. Bolt and Christine instantly deduced who Dawn thought the young woman was.

"Hey!" Bolt called as the green-haired woman reached the door.

The blonde rock star rushed after the woman right as she exited the resort and went out into the street. Bolt was out the door a few seconds later, but when he reached the outside the woman was nowhere to be seen. It was as though she had just vanished into thin air. With no way to tell where the mystery woman had gone, Bolt went back into the building. As he walked back up to Christine and Dawn, he noticed that Piplup and Dedenne were trembling in fear.

"Sorry. I totally lost her," Bolt reported as he rubbed the back of his head. "You okay Dawn?"

"Uh… yeah. I think so," Dawn answered. "I was probably just imagining things. Let's get going, shall we?"

With that, Bolt and the others headed out of the resort. As they left, Bolt could tell that Dawn was just trying to put on a brave face. He also noticed that Dawn's two Pokemon were still trembling, and thought that perhaps it was a sign that Dawn wasn't imagining things after all.

* * *

The night had grown a bit late as Dawn walked back to the resort alone with Piplup and Dedenne. Her time with Bolt and Christine had done much to take her mind off whom she thought she had seen at the resort. Now that she was once again alone though, Dawn once again started to wonder and fear that perhaps she really had seen Amber earlier. With her frayed nerves the way they were, it was impossible for her to tell if her mind was playing tricks on her. Of course there did seem to be signs that Dawn was indeed seeing what she thought she did, like the way Piplup and Dedenne were so terrified on the beach and how Bolt and Christine had also seen the same woman in the hotel lobby that she had. Yet while those things did appear to be signs that Dawn wasn't losing her mind, Dawn found that a part of her hoped that she was slowing going insane. Because if Dawn really was seeing who she thought she was, it meant that she might actually have to face Amber again, and the possibility of that seemed far worse than going mad.

As Dawn continued to walk, she suddenly thought she heard the sound of footsteps coming from behind her. She quickly stopped, and the footsteps instantly died away. Dawn thought that perhaps she might be imagining things again. If she really had been seeing things, it would make perfect sense that she might be starting to hear things as well, especially in her current mental state. Dawn continued walking, and as soon as she did the sound of the footsteps returned. She began to walk faster, forcing Piplup to waddle after her faster to keep up. The footsteps that were coming from behind her became faster to match her speed.

Dawn continued to pick up her pace, not once looking behind her to see who was after her, for she was afraid of looking back and seeing no one there. As Dawn and her two Pokemon reached an intersection, a person suddenly came out from around the corner to block her path. The individual in question was a young-looking man with blue hair, wearing a white cap on his head with two black circles on the front like the eye sockets of a skull, along with a black and white bandanna that covered the lower half of his face. He also had on a black tank top and a pair of baggy black shorts with white stripes on the sides. Hanging from his neck by a chain was a large white medallion resembling a white letter S.

At last Dawn came to a stop to look behind her, and saw that the footsteps she had been hearing had been coming from two other young men wearing the exact same outfit as the one who had blocked her path. One of them was fairly short and had dark-brown hair with tan skin. The other stood at over six feet tall, was quite overweight and seemed to have a shaved head. Dawn quickly realized that these three hooligans were members of Team Skull, a street gang that had been plaguing the Alola Region for quite some time. She had seen posters about them in the resort lobby as a warning to tourists.

"Hey there, pretty lady," spoke the blue-haired Team Skull member that had blocked Dawn's path. "It's pretty dangerous to be out here walking all alone at night."

"Get lost!" Dawn ordered.

"We might consider that," the blue-haired Skull hooligan responded as he and his two cohorts advanced on her. "If you do something for us, that is."

"You've got two options, lady," the short brown-haired Skull hooligan spoke. "You can either hand over all your money, or hand over those two Pokemon of yours. If ya do that, we'll let ya go on your way."

"Hey guys, I just thought of a third option," the large overweight Skull hooligan suggested. "Maybe we can let her go if she agrees to have a little 'fun' with us. She is pretty after all."

"I like the way you think, my man," the blue-haired Skull hooligan agreed as he and his two friends advanced on Dawn. "Well lady? What's it gonna be? We'll settle for options one or two, we'd really prefer the third option on colleague suggested too. I think you'd see that that option would be a fun one for all of us."

"Leave her alone," a familiar voice spoke.

Dawn looked, and standing on the street in the moonlight was an all-too-familiar young woman with long wavy green hair wearing visor-like sunglasses. She had on a long black coat with a black shirt, long black pants, and black fingerless gloves. Dawn could no longer doubt that anything she had seen before was a hallucination. That young woman in the street really was the woman she feared she had seen earlier, Amber Drei.

"Buzz off lady!" the blue-haired Skull hooligan ordered. "My friends and I are trying to conduct a little business transaction with this girl here. Of course if you wanna get in on this too, we wouldn't mind that at all. After all, you're just as hot as her."

"Hotter, in fact," the short brown-haired Skull hooligan remarked.

"I said to leave her alone," Amber told them as she pulled out a distinct-looking pokeball. "If you don't, I'll be forced to use violence."

"Ha! Are you seriously challenging us to a battle?" the blue-haired Skull hooligan as he suddenly produced his own pokeball. "Fine, but it's your funeral. Let's go, Ariados!"

Bursting out of the hooligan's thrown pokeball was a large red spider with black stripes decorating its body. It had four yellow and purple-striped legs with two similar leg-like spikes on its abdomen that pointed backward at an upward angle. Its head had a pair of large purple eyes and grey pincers, and adorning its forehead was a large white spike like a stinger.

"Go Zwei," Amber called as she tossed out the pokeball in her hand.

A humanoid feline with purple eyes burst out of the thrown ball. Dawn felt as though her legs had turned to rubber upon seeing Amber's faithful Mewtwo, and what terrified her even more was that she had left Palkia's pokeball back at her hotel room. It was as if the nightmare that had been plaguing her sleep ever since her breakdown was coming to life.

"What… what the hell kind of Pokemon is that?" the startled blue-haired Skull hooligan asked.

"Amber, why did you bring me out to deal with such weak opponent?" a female voice suddenly asked in everyone's minds.

"What the freakin' hell?" the short brown-haired Skull hooligan exclaimed upon hearing the voice.

"Did… did that Pokemon just talk?" the overweight Skull hooligan asked.

"I want to end this quickly," Amber told Zwei. "Use Psychic on that Ariados."

"Understood," Zwei responded as her lips curved into a smirk.

Zwei's eyes glowed with a blue light, and suddenly Ariados' body glowed with a blue aura as he was flung into the wall of the building behind Dawn and the hooligans. The spider Pokemon slid down the wall to the sidewalk and was out cold. The blue-haired Skull hooligan quickly called his fallen Pokemon back.

"Uh… what do we do now?" the overweight Skull hooligan asked.

"Run!" the blue-haired leader of the hooligans ordered.

With that, the three Team Skull grunts began to run off into the night. As they ran, Amber looked towards them, and with a wave of her left arm the trio was flung into the air by an invisible force. The three of them crashed into a nearby car and were knocked out cold. Amber meanwhile moved her left arm around as though it were stiff.

"Is your shoulder still bothering you?" Zwei asked.

"It's much better than it was," Amber answered before turning her attention to the blunette. "Hello Dawn. It's been a long time."

"So I really was seeing you at the resort?" Dawn realized. "What are you doing here?"

"Like many people who come to the Alola Region, Zwei and I are here on vacation," Amber revealed. "Don't worry, we have no intention of battling you right now."

"At the moment, Amber and I are still recovering from a fairly intense battle we had not long ago," Zwei revealed.

It was then that Dawn recalled the large bruise she thought she had seen on Amber's left shoulder when she thought she spotted her on the beach and in the resort lobby. She also recalled how Amber had just admitted that her shoulder was bothering her.

"Amber, how did you get hurt?" Dawn asked.

"As Zwei just mentioned, we were in a very intense battle not long ago, one where she had to Mega Evolve," Amber explained. "When that happens, our minds become linked and I feel everything that Zwei feels. Unfortunately Zwei and I were caught off guard, and she was hit by an attack so strong that my body reacted as though it had been damaged as well. My recovery has been swift, but Zwei insists that I take it easy for a while longer."

"This means we're not quite up to facing you and Palkia again at the moment," Zwei added.

"So… what sort of attack were you two hit with?" Dawn asked.

"Have you heard of a type of attack known as a Z-Move?" Amber asked.

"I'm a little familiar with them," Dawn answered. "Is that was you were hit with?"

Amber nodded. "Part of the reason why we chose Alola for our little vacation is so that I could hopefully learn more about this type of attack; perhaps even learn how to use it myself. The trainer Zwei and I faced, Bianca, said that she had learned the secret of these Z-Moves while visiting this region. It seemed like a good place to start my research."

"It was a rather interesting coincidence that we would run into you here, Dawn," Zwei remarked. "We're a bit disappointed though that you don't seem to be doing well."

"Indeed," Amber agreed. "You're one of the few people in this world we consider to be a rival worthy of us. We'll leave you alone for now, but we do very much hope you get better soon."

Suddenly Amber and Zwei vanished with a flash of blue light. Dawn was stunned that she had been able to get out of her latest encounter with the duo alive. Piplup and Dedenne meanwhile were trembling in fear behind the blunette's legs. Dawn was about to try heading back for the resort when everything suddenly went dark.

* * *

Dawn awoke to find that she was once again in her hotel room. She sat up slowly and found Dedenne and Piplup fast asleep across the foot of her bed. As Dawn tried to figure out how she had gotten back in her room, Bolt walked in from the kitchen carrying a glass of water.

"Hey there Dawn," Bolt spoke as he approached the bed. "We gotta stop meeting like this."

"How'd I get back here?" Dawn asked.

"Well, I started to get a little worried about you after you left. So I decided to go after you and make sure you got back to the resort safely," Bolt explained. "I was pretty stunned to find you on the ground. I was also surprised to see a bunch of those punks from Team Skull out cold too. Those three woke up about the time I got there, but of course I kicked their butts. They ended up getting away from me, but catching them wasn't really important."

"…So I guess none of that was a dream," Dawn realized.

"So what happened?" Bolt asked.

"Amber showed up," Dawn answered. "She was the one who knocked out those guys from Team Skull. After that, we had a short conversation and she left. I guess I must've passed out after that."

"So just who the heck is this Amber Drei woman anyway?" Bolt asked.

"I, uh… I need to make a quick call," Dawn suddenly decided. "Excuse me?"

Bolt was left rubbing the back of his head in confusion as Dawn quickly got out of bed and headed to the next room where the PC was. Dawn recalled everything about her conversation with Amber and Zwei, and how they both admitted that they had taken a bad hit during a recent battle. The fact that they had been injured so badly meant that the two of them weren't invincible. It seemed that the power of the Z-Moves that Dawn was somewhat familiar with seemed to be a potential weakness, but she wasn't entirely sure. She wanted to check her theory with one of the smartest people she knew before acting.

Dawn fired up the PC and used it to call her sister, Diane in the Sinnoh Region. After a few moments, the screen changed to show the image of a young woman who looked exactly like Dawn, but with glasses. Besides her glasses, the only thing Dawn's twin seemed to have on was a white bathrobe. It also appeared that she was half asleep.

 _"Dawn, do you have any idea what time it is over here?"_ Diane asked.

"Sorry sis, but I really needed to talk to you right away," Dawn told her. "I saw Amber again."

Upon hearing this, Diane was suddenly wide-awake. _"Amber? As in the clone Dr. Fuji made of his dead daughter? She didn't hurt you, did she?"_

"No. I'm fine," Dawn assured her. "But here's the thing. Amber let it slip that she and Zwei battled a trainer who used a Z-Move and were hurt pretty badly."

 _"Did she mention who this trainer was?"_ Diane asked.

"I think she said this trainer's name was Bianca," Dawn answered. "If I'm right, Amber probably battled her at that town in Unova that was destroyed, Lake Perfection."

 _"Hmm… according to some of the things I've heard, Professor Juniper was at Lake Perfection trying to help with the problem involving the town's population of Trubbish and Garbodor,"_ Diane recalled. _"The professor has an assistant who helps her sometimes named Bianca Edmonds. I met her once or twice while helping Cynthia with research in Unova. She's a bit… airheaded, but quite competent. I can try to get in touch with her if you really want."_

"Thanks. That would be a big help," Dawn agreed. "But what I really want to know is if you think using a Z-Move might be a way to beat Amber and Zwei."

 _"It does seem like a strong possibility,"_ Diane admitted. _"Unlike Mega Evolution, practically every Pokemon out there is capable of using a Z-Move, including my Dialga and your Palkia. Of course there are a number of factors to consider, like the type of Z-Move and the power of the attack used as that move's base. We'd also need to account for Zwei's defensive power in her Mega Evolved state. Still, I think you might be onto something, sis. Cynthia and I can start looking into it more in the morning."_

"I'd really appreciate it," Dawn replied. "In the meantime, I'm going to start looking more into these Z-Moves myself."

 _"I'll let you know the moment I find out anything useful,"_ Diane told her.

"Thanks sis," Dawn replied. "And tell Cynthia I said hi."

With that, the line went dead and Dawn shut off the PC. She then reentered the bedroom to find Bolt still standing in the middle of the room.

"What the heck was that about?" Bolt asked.

"I just needed to ask my sister about something," Dawn answered. "Um, Bolt… thanks for everything you've done, but do you think we could continue this conversation in the morning? I've had a long night and would really like to get to bed."

"Uh… yeah, sure," Bolt agreed. "You're sure you're fine though?"

"Better than I was before," Dawn assured him.

"Well okay," Bolt replied. "Catch ya tomorrow then, I guess."

With that, Bolt disposed of his glass of water and left the hotel room. Dawn meanwhile removed most of her clothes and got back into bed. She was far too tired to change into any sort of sleep ware. Dawn slowly began to drift off to sleep without fear of having another nightmare. A nightmare seemed unlikely now that she had hope that Amber and Zwei could actually be defeated.

* * *

It was midmorning as Dawn prepared to check out of the resort and embark on her new journey. She had prepared a brand new outfit for her new quest; one that still included her yellow hair barrettes, her white snowcap with the pink pokeball symbol on the front, and the pink scarf she usually wore. The rest of Dawn's outfit though was a pink t-shirt with a black vest, and a pair of tight blue jeans with the cuffs rolled half way up her shins and a pair of red and white sneakers. Once she was satisfied with her new look, Dawn left her hotel room for the last time with Piplup and Dedenne. When Dawn arrived in the lobby, she found Bolt and Christine waiting for her by the front desk.

"So you're really heading out, huh?" Bolt asked.

"Yep," Dawn confirmed. "I've stayed here wallowing in fear long enough."

"What exactly are your plans?" Christine asked.

"First I'm heading off to talk to Professor Kukui," Dawn answered. "From what I've heard, he's supposed to be something of an expert on Z-Moves. After that though, I'm not really sure."

"You thinking of trying to hunt down this Amber woman you've been scared of?" Bolt asked.

"Probably," Dawn replied. "I don't know what she has planned for the world, but somebody needs to stop her before she does something terrible."

"Maybe we could help you with that," Bolt suggested.

Dawn smiled and shook her head. "Thanks, but you should stay out of this for your own good. Amber's very dangerous. I think even our mutual friend, Ash might have trouble beating her."

"Seriously?" Bolt exclaimed. "Well… okay. It's your life. But if ever need my help, just call."

"I will," Dawn assured him. "It was good seeing you again, Bolt."

With that, Dawn officially checked out of the resort and headed out with Piplup and Dedenne. Dawn didn't know if her new quest to master the art of Z-Moves was going to amount to anything, or if she was actually going to hunt down Amber like she said she might. Even so, Dawn was no longer being ruled by fear. Her encounter with Amber and Zwei the night before that no trainer was unbeatable, not even one gifted with immense psychic powers. Of course Amber and Zwei were still a powerful team, but Dawn was determined to do everything she could to be ready the next time she ever ran into them.

FIN

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I had always sort of planned on doing an "episode" of this collection that followed up on how Dawn was doing after the events of _Mewtwo Zwei_. It's actually rather appropriate that I did this episode now, as it was a year ago this month when I first wrote that original story. I apologize if this latest story wasn't what some might consider exciting. I wanted to do something that took a little break from all the huge landscape destroying battles that we've seen in this collection so far. Anyway, I've already kind of figured out what the next installment of this collection is going to be about. Alain will be showing up again next time, so stay tuned.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	5. Chimera for Sale

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon.

* * *

Chimera for Sale

Amber Drei was standing overlooking the ocean. With a movement of her left arm, the green-haired clone levitated a large bolder from the shore several feet below. Once the boulder had reached her eye level, Amber clenched her left fist and caused the boulder to shatter apart into little pieces. As the new pebbles rained down on the shore below, Amber moved her left shoulder a bit to see how it was. There wasn't a trace of stiffness left in it.

"It looks like you're back at a hundred percent," a female voice spoke in Amber's head.

Amber looked to her right, and floating beside her was her faithful Mewtwo, Zwei. The humanoid feline had apparently been watching Amber without her realizing it.

"The bruise on my shoulder is still there, but it will fade in time," Amber responded.

"Then it seems our business here in the Alola Region is done," Zwei assumed. "Not only have you healed, but we've also managed to uncover the secrets of the Z-Moves."

"Indeed," Amber replied as she looked at her right wrist. Around her wrist was an ornate silvery-white bracelet. "Of course I've still yet to test this power in an actual battle."

"It's a pity I can't use these Z-Moves myself," Zwei remarked as she glanced down at the metal belt with the pinkish-purple stone on the front that was around her midsection. "Or at least I can't while using the power of my Mega Stone."

"You do not need the assistance of a Z-Move," Amber told her. "But this power will allow Tron, Sentry and Galatea to match the strength of your normal form."

"Anyway, does this mean we're finally going to resume our search for Mewtwo Ein?" Zwei asked.

"There's no real reason to remain in this region anymore," Amber answered. "Now that I'm fully recovered from our battle with Bianca, the time has come for us to get back out on the road. In the morning we'll head back to the Kanto Region and look for Mewtwo Ein again in Saffron City."

"Whatever you think best," Zwei replied with a nod.

Amber called Zwei back to her pokeball and walked away from the cliff. After a few short minutes of walking, the green-haired clone arrived in the nearby town where she had been staying for the past few days. Amber decided to get a bite to eat before returning to her hotel and stopped at a small café she had discovered a few days before. Shortly after making her order at the counter, Amber sat down at a table near another table where two men in black suits were talking.

"So, you really gonna go to that Type: Null auction that's supposed to be happening in Po Town in a couple of days?" one of the suited men asked the other.

"Why the hell not? It'd be a hell of an investment," the other suited gentleman replied. "Think about it. A genetically engineered Pokemon made using the DNA of multiple Pokemon types. If such a Pokemon could be studied and mass-produced I could make a crap load of money. I mean I know a bunch of military groups that would love to have a small army of this Pokemon in their arsenal."

"Yeah, but how to we know this auction is legit?" the first suited man pointed out. "I mean this thing is being held by Team Skull. Those guys are nothing but a bunch of street punks. Team Rocket, they certainly aren't."

"Will you relax? I had a guy look into this whole thing," the second suited man assured him. "This auction is totally on the up and up. I have no idea how Team Skull was able to steal a Type: Null from the Aether Foundation, but they did it."

"Well okay, but wasn't Type: Null a total failure?" the first suited man asked. "I mean the stories I've heard said that they went berserk when the Aether Foundation tested them out. That's why the few they did make had to be frozen."

"No problem. If need be, I can just have my lab guys dissect the thing and run a full analysis to see where those Aether Foundation scientists went wrong," the second suited man replied. "No big deal. Now where the hell is that damn waitress with my coffee?"

Amber had heard enough of the conversation and rose from her chair. She went over to where the two were sitting as they continued their conversation.

"What is this you were saying about an artificially made Pokemon?" Amber asked the duo.

"Hey lady! Do you mind? My friend and I are having a private conversation," the second suited man told her. "Now buzz off."

Amber flicked her right wrist, and suddenly the second suited man seemed to have trouble breathing as though he was choking. His friend started to get up to help, but Amber glared at him and flung the man and his chair into the wall behind him, knocking him out cold.

"You will tell me everything I want to know," Amber told the man she was strangling with her thoughts.

"Go… to hell," the man responded.

"I see. It appears we have to do this the hard way," Amber realized.

With that, Amber began to burrow into the man's mind for the information she wanted, causing his nose to bleed.

* * *

It was about noon as Alain Grant sat sipping tea at a table outside a café in Malie City. Alain and his companion, Mairin Trudeau had been sent to Alola on a recent tip that Amber Drei was somewhere in the region. The café was where Alain was supposed to meet with a contact that was to give him more information. Alain had been waiting at the café for almost half an hour, and his contact had still yet to show. Just as Alain thought about getting up to stretch his legs, he saw Mairin running towards his table. The redhead had a very excited expression on her face.

"I take it your battles against those trainers you met went well?" Alain assumed.

"You bet!" Mairin confirmed. "But that's not all. Choppy evolved! Check it out!"

Mairin threw out a pokeball, and bursting out of it was a blue bipedal dragon that stood at just over four feet. It had black and gold eyes, and on the sides of its head were two horns with blue stripes around the middle that almost resembled jet engines. The dragon's chest was red, as was its jaw and the front of its neck, while the underside of the beast was light blue. On its back was a large shark's fin with a notch in it, and it had a smaller fin near the end of its thick tail. The dragon had a pair of narrow arms, each with a large fin on the forearm and a small white claw on the end. Growing from its upper legs were two short white spikes. It also had a set of three white claws on each foot.

"It evolved into Gabite," Alain observed. "I'm impressed. Dragon Pokemon can be very difficult to train. You've come very far in a short time."

"Thanks," Mairin replied. "I've put a lot of hard work into Choppy's training."

"So this is the little sidekick I heard you picked up, Alain," a voice interrupted.

Alain and Mairin looked, and standing near by was a woman with long pink here. She had on a pair of orange-red sunglasses, along with a sleeveless black shirt with a turtleneck that showed her midriff, a pair of long red pants decorated with white diamonds, and a pair of black high-heeled shoes.

"Malva!" a surprised Alain identified. "Lysandre never said you were my contact."

"I know. I asked that he keep that a secret," Malva told him. "I wanted to see the look on your face when you found out."

"Hey. You're that news lady I've seen on T.V. back in Kalos a few times," Mairin realized.

"Malva is much more than a reporter, Mairin," Alain told her. "She's also a member of the Kalos Elite Four."

"And a top member of Team Flare," the pinkette proudly added as she sat down at Alain's table. "Of course I usually keep that bit of info under my hat. Now then, shall we get down to business?"

"Is Ambre Drei truly here in Alola?" Alain asked as Mairin called back Choppy and took a seat at the table.

"It would appear so, from the little info I've been able to gather," Malva confirmed. "For some reason she's been laying low since the Lake Perfection incident, but just yesterday she was apparently spotted here on Ula'ula Island."

"You're absolutely certain?" Alain asked.

"A woman matching Amber's description popped up at a café in a nearby down," Malva reported. "She was involved in some kind of strange incident that ended with a man winding up in a coma. It's good fortune that I was here on the island yesterday doing a news story on the region's new Pokemon League when it happened, since it let me follow up on this tip right away."

"Why was this man attacked?" Alain asked.

"The guy who's now in a coma had a friend with him when the incident happened, so I was able to ask him," Malva revealed. "It turns out this poor devil was planning to attend a black market auction for an artificially made Pokemon known as Type: Null. From what little I was able to find out, our renegade clone seemed to get pretty ticked off about the auction, especially when our coma patient let it slip that he might have this Pokemon dissected for research."

"Amber's reaction doesn't surprise me," Mairin interjected. "After her battle with Alain, she told me that wants to change the world because of how some people treat artificial Pokemon. In fact I can't blame her for getting so ticked off at that guy for wanting to dissect a Pokemon like that."

"Well it seems pretty clear that Amber plans to infiltrate the auction," Malva informed them. "The man she knocked out also had his invitation to the auction stolen."

"So what can you tell us about the auction?" Alain asked the pink-haired reporter.

"It's being held in a town on this island called Po Town by Team Skull," Malva answered. "The entire town is essentially Team Skull's base of operations. I have to admit that I'm a little impressed that they're trying to pull off something this advanced. Team Skull is pretty much nothing more than a giant gang of street punks that only live to cause trouble. Anyway, the auction is being held tomorrow, and I was able to get my hands on an invitation."

"Why do we need an invitation?" Mairin asked.

"Because Po Town has a giant wall around it, and all the entrances to it are guarded by Team Skull members," Malva explained. "This invitation is the only way we can get in. We'll show up tomorrow with me posing as a potential buyer in the auction. Alain, you'll be playing the role of my bodyguard. And Mairin, since I assume you'll insist on tagging along, you can just pretend to be my niece or something. I think I can pull off a role as a young fun-loving aunt."

"How come you're coming along with us?" Alain asked. "Does Lysandre not think I can handle this on my own?"

"It's nothing like that at all. Lysandre has the upmost faith in your abilities. Of course I for one have my doubts," Malva admitted. "But the fact is that this job requires a little bit to stealth and cunning, qualities that you're a bit lacking in."

"Alright, we'll play it your way then," Alain agreed.

"It's not like you had an choice. I do outrank you, after all," Malva pointed out. "We'll meet back here tomorrow at noon and head straight for Po Town. Both of you had better show up on time."

* * *

It was just past 7:00 AM as Amber approached the massive wall around Po Town. As she came near the front gate, Amber saw a pair of Team Skull hooligans guarding the door. One of them was a young slender woman with long pink hair. The other one was a large and overweight young man with a shaved head. Both guards instantly moved to block the gate as soon as Amber came near.

"What the hell do you want lady?" the female Skull hooligan asked.

"I understand that the auction for a Pokemon known as Type: Null is being held in this town," Amber responded. "I've come here to participate."

"Yeah? Well you better have an invitation," the female Skull hooligan told her. "Otherwise there's no way you're getting in. Right Biff?"

The large Skull hooligan merely stood trembling in fear as he looked at Amber. It was as though he had seen the green-haired clone before.

"Hey Biff, you okay?" the female Skull hooligan asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Suddenly the gate opened, and walking out was a young woman with pink hair and yellow eyes. Decorating the sides of her head were grey hair ornaments almost resembled cartoon skulls with long pink and yellow pigtails strung through the eye sockets. Her eyes were decorated with black mascara and had white circles painted around them. She had on a black tank-top with black crisscrossing stripes at the bottom that showed off her midriff, along with long black pants with a white waistband and a white diamond pattern running down the sides of the legs, and a pair of grey and white sneakers. Hanging from her neck was a necklace with the Team Skull emblem, and a large pink version of the emblem was either tattooed or painted on her stomach.

"What's going on out here?" the newly arrived pinkette asked.

"Ms. Plumeria! Uh, this lady here said she came for the auction," the female Skull hooligan explained.

"Does she have an invite?" the young woman known as Plumeria asked.

"Right here," Amber answered as she pulled the stolen invitation from her coat pocket and presented it.

Plumeria took the invitation and looked it over. "It certainly looks legit. You do know the auction isn't until this afternoon though, right?"

"I am aware of that, but I wanted to get here as early as possible," Amber told her. "I thought that I could explore your quaint little town while I waited."

"Look lady, this place isn't exactly a tourist attraction," Plumeria told her. "But whatever floats your boat, I guess. Just like the invitation said, the auction will be in the warehouse at the northeast corner of the wall at 3:00. If you're late, it's your own damn fault."

"I understand perfectly," Amber replied.

Plumeria reopened the gate door and Amber walked though. The metal door slammed shut again once the green-haired clone had gone though.

"Looks like this auction might end up attracting a few weirdos," Plumeria remarked with a sigh.

"Something about her sure seemed to scare the crap out of Biff," the female Skull hooligan informed her.

Plumeria noticed that the other guard was still trembling. "Yo Biff. What's the matter?"

"I… I've seen that lady before," Biff revealed. "A few nights ago, me, Spike and Zeke went to try and get some loot from the tourists around the Hano Resort. We cornered this one girl who had a couple of rare Pokemon with her when that lady with the green hair showed up. She had this talking Pokemon that totally thrashed Spike's Ariados. I mean she took it down in like a second."

"So what? Spike's Ariados is a total pushover," the female Skull hooligan remarked.

"Yeah? Well that's not the worst part," Biff told them. "We tried to run away, and somehow that lady flung us into the air with a wave of her hand. Like she used the power of her mind or something. We ended up getting knocked out, and when we woke up later we got chased off by some blonde guy with another freaky Pokemon that was like an electric cat or something."

"Okay, what the hell were you guys smoking when all this supposedly happened?" the female Skull hooligan asked.

"I'm telling ya, big sis! That lady we just let into town is trouble!" Biff told Plumeria. "I don't know what she's doing here, but it can't be good."

"Is that so?" Plumeria responded. "Then it looks like I'll have to keep a close eye on our new guest. Nobody messes with my teammates like that and gets away with it."

* * *

It was at least twenty minutes before the auction as the trio of Alain, Mairin and Malva approached the massive wall of Po Town. Malva had changed into a suit in order to appear more like a perspective buyer. Alain and Mairin meanwhile were wearing their normal outfits. A pair of male Skull hooligans was guarding the gate as the three approached.

"Hi there. We're here for the auction," Malva told the two guards as she presented her invitation.

"Hold the phone. There's three of you, but only one invitation," one of the guards pointed out. "What the hell are you trying to pull lady?"

"Well the young man here is my bodyguard," Malva explained. "Surely you don't expect a lady like me to enter your town without an armed escort."

"Fair enough, but what about the kid?" the same guard asked.

"Oh, her?" Malva responded, pointing to Mairin. "She's just my sister's kid. She got dumped on me at the last second because my sister couldn't get a sitter. But there was no way in hell that I'd miss out on this auction."

"Just let 'em all in," the second guard spoke. "What harm could the kid do? Plus it's not like the other guests didn't bring bodyguards of their own."

"Yeah, okay. Go on in," the first guard told them. "But keep that kid on a tight leash."

With that, the guards opened the gate, and Alain and the others went in. Beyond the gate was a fairly large but rundown-looking town with houses that looked like they had seen better days. Many of the dwellings had broken windows, chipped and fading paint, and a good deal of graffiti. Some of the houses looked totally abandoned, with shingles missing from the roofs and windows totally boarded up. The grass growing in the yards of all these properties was so overgrown that it looked like wild Pokemon might be lurking within it.

There were also rusted and abandoned cars parked at the side of the street at various places. Just like the houses, some of these ruined cars were also covered in graffiti. The massive level of the town's decay combined with the overcast sky and the massive wall surrounding everything made the place look utterly depressing. Yet though the buildings and cars made the town look abandoned, it was crawling with Team Skull members. Some of them were loitering around the front doors of the abandoned-looking houses, leaning against the rusted old cars, or just walking around. Alain and the others ended up passing by an alley where five Skull hooligans had gathered to play some sort of game involving dice.

"Is everyone in this town a member of Team Skull?" Mairin asked.

"Pretty much," Malva answered. "Po Town is essentially Team Skull's base of operations. You won't find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy in all of Alola."

"How did the town get this way?" Mairin asked.

"From what little I know, Po Town was originally a peaceful little community long ago," Malva began. "But then one day Team Skull showed up and began terrorizing the place. This town had very little law enforcement presence, and the people who lived here originally ended up fleeing in fear. Once the people left, Team Skull moved right in. Word is they even run the local Pokemon Center. The place will heal your Pokemon, but they charge a fee for usage."

"Team Skull really is a despicable group," Alain remarked.

"Indeed," Malva agreed. "But don't worry about it too much Alain. Once Lysandre achieves his goal of making a new world, groups like this one will be a thing of the past. We'll have pure and total peace. For right now though, let's just focus on the mission at hand, which is to find and capture Amber Drei."

Eventually the trio reached the old warehouse in town where the auction was to be held. The inside was packed with men and women in business suits, some of them looking as though they were armed. There was also a wooden stage set up in the warehouse. On it was a small table with a box covered by a red cloth. A pair of large male Skull hooligans was guarding the box, indicating that it contained the item that was to be auctioned off.

Alain began to scan the small crowd of potential buyers for Amber, but the green-haired clone was nowhere to be seen. He began to wonder if Amber was actually going to show up. As Alain remained on the lookout for his target, Plumeria walked up onto the stage.

"I wanna start this by thanking all you suits for coming out here today," Plumeria began. "The money we're gonna make from this little auction will be a big boost for our organization."

"Hey girlie! I thought the leader of your little gang was gonna be the one to conduct this auction," spoke a redheaded man in a brown suit. "Where the hell is he?"

"The boss is currently busy with other important matters," Plumeria explained.

"Yeah. He's watching a lame slasher movie marathon on Channel 6," one of the hooligans guarding the box under the cloth remarked, causing his comrade to snicker.

Plumeria glared back at the two hooligan guards, causing them both to flinch.

"Anyway, I'm perfectly capable of conducting this auction," Plumeria continued. "So to start, I'll show you all the merchandise so you know this whole thing is legit."

The pinkette snapped her fingers, causing one of the two hooligan guards to remove the cloth covering the box. The box in question was clear plastic and showed a pokeball resting on a red satin pillow next to some sort of metal canister. The other guard lifted the box, allowing Plumeria to take the pokeball from its pillow.

"Come on out, Type: Null!" Plumeria called as she threw the pokeball.

Bursting out of the ball was a four-legged creature that stood at just over six feet tall. Covering its head was a brown mask-like helmet with a large jaw piece attached to the sides by round hinges with green X-shaped markings. A pair of small silver eyes could be seen within the large rectangular eyeholes of the mask, and on top the helmet between two small pointed ears was a large grey axe-like blade. Attached to the base of the mask with four blades projecting outward to form the shape of an X, and hanging beneath the helmet was a thick mane of dark-grey fur that covered the beast's chest and shoulders. Much of its body was covered in short black fur, and it had a tail resembling the tailfin of a fish that was colored blue and had three short grey spikes growing from the top. The lower halves of the creature's front legs were green and insect-like, with spikes growing from the back and three talon-like claws on each foot. Its hind legs meanwhile had purple reptilian scales covering the flanks, shins, and the top of its paws.

Many of the assembled bidders were visibly stunned upon seeing the strange Pokemon. Mairin meanwhile noticed a rather sad look in the chimera Pokemon's eyes.

"Here it is folks. The famous Type: Null," Plumeria announced. "There are said to be only three of this Pokemon in existence, one of which disappeared not too long ago. One of our more inventive team members managed to swipe this Type: Null from one of the Aether Foundations secret labs."

Just as Type: Null began to look over the audience, Plumeria called it back to its ball and set it back on the pillow.

"With this Type: Null, you'll also get the full set of memories designed to work with the failed RKS system built into its body," Plumeria continued. "This system was designed to allow Type: Null to change between every currently known Pokemon type. If any of you suits can figure out how to get that system to work, more power to ya. Now then, let's start the bidding off at five hundred. Which of you is willing to pay five large for this wonder of science?"

"This auction is now canceled!" a voice interrupted as the redheaded man from before started to raise his hand. Alain and the others looked to see Amber standing in the doorway of the warehouse. "I will not allow this Pokemon to be sold off like a lifeless tool!"

"Who the hell is this bitch?" one of the male bidders asked.

"Who cares?" the redheaded man responded. "Let's just get rid of her!"

Just as some of the bidders were about to pull out guns, Amber waved her left hand and knocked them into the far wall of the warehouse, knocking them out. Alain and his companions though had moved aside to avoid the attack.

"You will now hand over that Type: Null," Amber ordered. "Otherwise I will take it from you by force."

Plumeria jumped off the stage and walked towards her. "You're that weird chick from this morning. One of my boys said you roughed up him and a couple of his friends a few nights ago."

"I did encounter three members of your organization a few nights ago on Akala Island," Amber recalled. "They were harassing a rival of mine."

"Yeah? Well get this, bitch! I'm like the big sister to every junior member of this gang," Plumeria told her. "Sure a lot of them are kind of dumb, but that's sort of an endearing quality to me. And someone messes with them, they mess with me."

"I see. So you wish to avenge the defeat of your comrades," Amber realized. "Very well then. I have a proposition for you. The two of us will face each other in a one-on-one battle. If you win, you will have your revenge. But if I win, I will be taking Type: Null and the memory devices you spoke of."

"Fine with me. But you're gonna get thrashed!" Plumeria declared as she tossed out a pokeball. "Go Salazzle!"

Bursting out of Plumeria's thrown ball was a fairly large dark-grey lizard that stood on two legs at a height of almost four feet. The creature had purple eyes with slit pupils, and the front of her torso was purple with pink flame-like markings decorating her chest and stomach. The underside of the lizard's long tail was bright pink, and two coattail-like growths projected outward from the top of the tail's base.

Upon seeing Plumeria's fiery lizard, Malva pulled out a small tape recorder. "Note to self: Capture a female Salandit before leaving Alola."

Amber meanwhile tossed out a pokeball of her own. "Go Tron!"

Emerging from Amber's pokeball with a sparkling flash was a blue hummingbird-like creature with crazed yellow eyes.

"Roast that freaky thing Salazzle!" Plumeria commanded. "Use Flamethrower!"

"Attack with Thunderbolt," Amber calmly ordered.

Tron fired bolts of yellow electricity from its body that zapped Plumeria's fire lizard. Salazzle recovered from the attack and breathed out a stream of red flames from her jaws. The blast struck Tron in the chest, but the digital Pokemon endured it.

"Get ready, bitch. I'm gonna show you a world of pain," Plumeria declared.

Amber then suddenly pointed her arms forward and crossed her wrists before pointing her index fingers at the sides of her head. The green-haired psychic then outstretched her left arm towards Tron while keeping her right finger pointing at her head.

"Shattered Psyche!" Amber called out.

A ball of pink light suddenly flew from the ornate bracelet on Amber's wrist into Tron's back. A golden energy then flowed from Amber into Tron, causing the digital Pokemon's body to produce a golden flame-like aura. Tron's eyes began to glow a brilliant purple before Salazzle's body became enveloped in a ball of purple light. Salazzle was then hurled upward and then bounced between several octagonal plates of purple energy that appeared in the air, vanishing instantly as soon as the lizard struck one of them. Plumeria's Pokemon was bounced back and forth between the plates several times like a pinball before being hurled into the back wall of the warehouse with enough force to create a massive hole.

As Tron's eyes stopped glowing, Salazzle emerged from the rubble of the shattered wall, only to collapse forward soon after. The fiery lizard was out like a light. Alain, Mairin and Malva meanwhile were left totally stunned.

Plumeria was also completely shocked. "No… no way! A Z-Move? Where the hell did you learn a trick like that?"

"I believe that was an effective test of the Z-Move power," Amber remarked as she called back Tron. "Now then. As per the terms of our wager, Type: Null is now mine."

With that, Amber waved her right hand and flung Plumeria into the left-side wall of the warehouse. The pinkette struck the wall with enough force to leave a slight dent in it and was out cold as she collapsed to the ground. The two hooligans guarding Type: Null reached for the pokeballs hanging at their belts, only for Amber to push them away into the shattered rear wall with a movement of her right hand. Then with a gentle movement of her wrist, Amber levitated Type: Null's pokeball and the silver canister towards her.

"I believe my business here is finished," Amber decided as she pocketed the pokeball.

"Amber Drei!" Alain called, getting her attention. "You're not getting away from me again!"

"You're… Alain, correct?" Amber recalled with a slight tilt of her head. "I didn't notice you were here. This is quite the little surprise."

"This time I'm taking you in!" Alain declared as he threw out a pokeball. "Go Charizard!"

Alain's red fire dragon burst out of its ball and roared as he raised his head and breathed a stream of red flames straight into the air.

"Go Zwei!" Amber called with the throw of her own pokeball.

The humanoid feline burst out of her ball and smirked upon noticing Alain. "So the boy with the Charizard has returned to try and capture us again. This should be amusing."

"Use Dragon Claw!" Alain commanded as the stone in his Mega Ring lit up.

Charizard roared as the stone in his metal collar started to glow, and his body flashed with a brilliant blue light in the shape of an X as he grew in size. When the light faded, Charizard's body had turned black and blue as multicolored light in the form of a DNA helix glowed briefly above his head. The black dragon flew towards Zwei as the claws on his right hand glowed and extended. As soon as he got in range, Charizard slashed Zwei across the chest.

"Now use Flamethrower!" Alain ordered.

As Zwei fell back, Charizard breathed a powerful stream of blue flames from his jaws. Zwei crossed her arms to cover herself, but the force of the blast knocked her through the wall and onto the street outside. Charizard flew out of the warehouse with Alain following close behind. Amber meanwhile calmly walked out of the large hole in the wall that Charizard had made with her hands crossed behind her back. Zwei had gotten back to her feet just as Amber had come out.

"I think we've given them enough of a handicap, don't you?" Amber asked Zwei.

"Indeed," Zwei agreed.

Just then, the stone fitted into the front of Amber's metal choker flashed, as did the stone in the front of Zwei's belt. Zwei levitated into the air as he body gave off a blinding purple flash in the shape of a Y. The light soon faded to reveal the psychic feline in her shorter mega form as a multicolored DNA helix glowed momentarily above her head.

"Use Dragon Claw again!" Alain ordered.

Charizard extended his claws again as he flew towards his opponent at top speed. Just as the dragon came in striking range though, Zwei flew out of the way, causing Charizard to only cut into one of the afterimages left in the feline's wake. Zwei then got behind Charizard and flung a ball of cracking black energy into the dragon's back. Charizard cried out upon being struck, only to turn around and roar at his opponent.

"Attack with Flamethrower!" Alain commanded.

Just as Charizard opened his jaws to launch another attack, Zwei's eyes glowed red and the dragon's body started giving off a feint red aura. With her right arm outstretched, Zwei twitched her wrist and flung Charizard into the ground with enough force to leave a small crater. The psychic feline then pulled Charizard back into the air and slammed in into the ground three more times like she was bouncing a ball before hurling him into a nearby rusted pickup truck covered in graffiti. As Charizard attempted to get up, Amber levitated into the air to move behind Zwei. Zwei then spread her arms apart and created a ball of purple light in front of her that was four times her size.

"Oh no!" Mairin exclaimed upon seeing what Zwei was doing. "Ms. Malva! Take cover!"

"Psystrike!" Zwei and Amber called out.

With a movement of her arms, Zwei hurled the massive ball of light down towards Chaizard as Mairin, Malva and Alain all dove to the ground. The attack struck both Charizard and the truck, causing a massive explosion that radiated outward. When the light faded and the smoke cleared, Charizard was lying in the middle of a massive crater in his original form, with the glowing red remains of the destroyed pickup scattered around him. As soon as Alain got back to his feet, he rushed to the crater to check on his fallen partner.

Back up in the air, Zwei returned to her original form. "That was somewhat disappointing. They did much better against us the last time."

"I think they were trying too hard," Amber assumed as Alain kneeled down next to Charizard. "It was fun seeing you again, Alain. Just like before, you were an amusing diversion."

With that, Amber and Zwei vanished with a flash of blue light. As soon as they were gone, Alain punched the ground in frustration.

"Well, I can see why you've been having so much trouble with this assignment," Malva remarked as she and Mairin emerged from the warehouse. "The Mega Evolution of that Mewtwo is extremely powerful."

"Then there was that weird attack Amber's Porygon-Z used against that lady from Team Skull," Mairin added. "What kind of move was that anyway?"

"That was an attack known as a Z-Move," Malva answered. "From what I've heard, it's a technique that converts a basic Pokemon attack into one of incredible destructive force. The power is said to rival that of Mega Evolution. Now that Amber has this power at her disposal as well, she's even more dangerous."

"I don't care how powerful she becomes," Alain spoke as he got back to his feet. "One way or another, I'm going to defeat her!"

* * *

Amber and Zwei touched down outside an abandoned warehouse on the edge of Malie City. The duo quickly made sure that nobody was around before entering the structure.

"Come on out! Tron! Sentry! Galatea!" Amber called out as she tossed three of her pokeballs.

Tron burst out of his ball, as did the blue ancient nine-foot tall robot that was Sentry. An even larger pokeball emerged from the third ball that Amber had tossed, but it quickly unfolded into the golden rabbit-eared robot that was her Magearna, Galatea.

"I'm sorry Galatea. Did I wake you?" Amber asked.

 _'It's fine, Ms. Amber,'_ Galatea's child-like voice responded in her head. _'I was due to wake up anyway. So why did you call us all out?'_

"Zwei and I wanted you all to meet a new friend of ours," Amber explained.

 _'Yay! A new friend!'_ Galatea cheered. _'Is it an artificially made Pokemon like the rest of us?'_

"That's right," Zwei confirmed. "It's a being that was made the same way that Amber and I were; a product of genetic engineering."

"The Pokemon was being auctioned off like a tool," Amber added. "Zwei and I decided to rescue it."

 _'Statement: I was instrumental in that rescue,'_ the mechanical voice of Tron spoke in everyone's heads.

"That's right, Tron. We could not have done it without you," Amber told the digital Pokemon with a small smile. "You also helped to fully test the power of these Z-Moves we've been studying."

 _'Indeed. With the power of that move, my performance-performance-performance-performance.'_ Sentry gently pounded his large fist into the top of Tron's head. _'Response: Thank you, Sentry. As I was saying, with the power of that move, my performance in battle was increased by 120 percent.'_

 _'So when are we going to meet this new Pokemon?'_ Galatea asked.

"Right now," Amber answered as she pulled out Type: Null's pokeball. "Come on out!"

Type: Null burst out of the thrown ball and looked at Amber and the others. The chimera seemed to be a bit wary of them.

 _'You don't need to be afraid,'_ Amber's voice spoke inside Type: Null's head. _'You can hear my thoughts, can't you?'_

 _'Yes… I can,'_ a gruff voice responded in Amber's head. _'Are you the one who bought me? Those people from that group, Team Skull… they said I was going to be sold.'_

"I am the one who liberated you," Amber explained. "You are among friends here. Each of use is an artificial life form made by humans. And just like you, we were mistreated by them."

 _'I don't know why you bothered to rescue me,'_ Type: Null responded. _'I am a failure. I was made to be a weapon, as were the two others like me, but we were overwhelmed by the power our makers gave to us. Because of that, our makers put this helmet on me to bind my power… as they did with the other two of my kind. Then we were put into a deep sleep… abandoned and forgotten.'_

 _'That's so sad,'_ Galatea spoke, sounding as if on the verge of tears. _'That's just like what happened to me.'_

 _'Originally, my kind and I were called Type: Full,'_ the chimera continued. _'But after we were deemed failures, our makers renamed us Type: Null. Just as I was about to be put to sleep, one of my makers mentioned that the word, Null meant nothing. I… am worthless.'_

"Mugen," Amber spoke, getting the chimera's attention. "That is what I shall call you. It is a word that means, infinity. The humans who made you underestimated your worth. Perhaps the power they gave you and your brethren was too much for you. I believe that with the proper training, your true power will be unlocked."

"Does this mean our search for Mewtwo Ein is going to be delayed for a while longer?" Zwei asked.

Amber nodded. "For right now, at least. Before we continue our journey, I'd like to spend some time trying to unlock Mugen's potential. After that, we shall go after the ones responsible for Mugen's creation and mistreatment, the Aether Foundation. It seems they have a lot to answer for."

FIN

* * *

 **Author's Note:** The main purpose of this story was to add another Pokemon to Amber's team. The moment I learned that Type: Null and its evolved form of Silvally were artificial Pokemon, I knew that I wanted to have Amber use one. The real difficulty though was figuring out how Amber was going to obtain a Type: Null. Having the Aether Foundation playing such a major role in its creation kind of complicated things for me a bit. In our next episode, which is going to be kind of a part two to this one, we're going to dive into the Aether Foundation a little further.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	6. The Aether Foundation

**Author's Note:** It seems like this little project of mine is becoming less and less of a one-shot collection with each story I do for it. But I guess that was kind of a foregone conclusion due to everything I had in mind for this project. Anyway, we now pick up almost right where the previous story left off.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon.

* * *

The Aether Foundation

It was midafternoon as Mairin Trudeau exited a grassy field on Ula'ula Island. She had decided to go hunting for new Pokemon to add to her team and had absolutely no luck. At the moment, there wasn't very much for Mairin to do on the island, not with Alain and Malva still trying to plan their next move for finding Amber Drei. The two had felt certain that Amber was still in the Alola Region for some purpose, so they had decided to remain in Malie City until some trace of Amber showed up. This left Mairin with little else to do but train while her traveling companions waited for their quarry to reappear.

With little Pokemon in the area, Mairin decided to head back to the city's Pokemon Center for a while and try another field later. The redhead had only gotten a few steps away from the field though when she saw an all-too-familiar young woman with wavy green hair standing before her a few feet away. Ambre Drei had finally shown up again, and in the most unexpected place.

"Your name is Mairin, correct?" Amber spoke. "Alain's little friend."

"What do you want?" Mairin asked as she reached for one of the pokeballs hanging from her belt.

"I came to challenge Alain to another battle," Amber explained. "Where is he?"

"He's not here! But if you want someone to battle, I'll take you on!" Mairin declared. "And if I win, you're coming along with me!"

"…I suppose you'll work as an opponent," Amber decided. "What I'm trying to accomplish does not require a large amount of skill."

"Uh, you're not going to use Zwei to battle me, are you?" Mairin asked.

"Please. A trainer like you is hardly worth Zwei's time," Amber answered.

"Okay then. We'll do this as a two-on-two battle," Mairin decided. "That okay with you?"

"That works for me," Amber agreed. "Though I hardly think I'll need two Pokemon to defeat you."

"Come on out! Choppy!" Mairin called as she tossed out her first pokeball.

The redhead's shark-like dragon burst out of the thrown ball with a roar.

"Go Mugen!" Amber called with the throw of her own pokeball.

Amber's masked chimera burst out of its ball and growled at Choppy.

"Hey! That's the Type: Null you stole from the auction in Po Town!" Mairin realized.

"I liberated Mugen from what would've been a painful existence," Amber told her. "For the past few days, I have helped Mugen to try and unlock its full power. After all of the battles we've had during the past two and a half weeks, I feel we're close to a breakthrough."

Suddenly Mugen roared as its body began to glow with a white light. The only part of the chimera that wasn't glowing was the metal mask covering its head. Mugen suddenly began to slam his head against a large nearby rock lying at the side of the road. After five strikes, the mask finally shattered apart and the chimera's glowing body began to grow in size. After a few moments, the light from Mugen's body faded to reveal the chimera in a new form.

Much of the chimera's body had remained as it had originally been, but it had grown to a height of a little over seven feet. The membrane of its tailfin had also changed from light blue to white. The biggest change though had been to Mugen's head. The fur of its mane had changed from dark-grey to a silvery-white color, and it had a mechanical almost wolf-like head with a metallic upper jaw. The bridge of the beast's nose was metal as well while the nose itself was an inverted black triangle framed by three red lines. Its eyes were silver and seemed to lack pupils. On both sides of the chimera's head was a round metallic port, each with a white circle crossed by a metal line. Atop the beast's head between its two small pointed ears, which were red and black on the inside, was a large blade-like crest with three long white spikes on the back.

"No way! It evolved?" a stunned Mairin exclaimed as she pulled out her pokedex. "Let's see…."

"Accessing international database," spoke the mechanical voice of Mairin's pokedex. "Scanning… scanning… entry found. Silvally: The Synthetic Pokemon. According to eyewitness accounts, the boy who had first this Pokemon from the artificial Pokemon, Type: Null was the one to first coin the name of this species. By destroying the metal mask covering its head, the RKS system that allows this Pokemon to change its type was reactivated."

"This thing can really change its type?" Mairin asked. "How?"

"I believe this is how," Amber spoke as she opened her long coat.

Suddenly flying out of her coat were several CD-like discs, each one a different color. There seemed to be eighteen discs in all.

"These discs were also being auctioned off along with Mugen," Amber explained. "If I'm right, these digital memories are what allows Mugen to change its type. Now then, since we're up against a Dragon and Ground-Type, I believe the Ice Memory will be the most effective weapon in this battle."

Suddenly the port on the left side of Mugen's head opened up. With a wave of her finger, Amber caused the light-blue disc among the digital memories to fly over and insert itself in the metal port. As the port closed up, all of the other discs flew back into Amber's coat. Suddenly Mugen roared as the membrane of his tailfin and the spikes on the back of his head crest changed from white to ice blue. Its silver eyes became ice blue as well.

"Now Mugen is an Ice-Type," Amber observed. "This battle should end quickly."

"We'll see about that!" Mairin told her. "Let's hit 'em fast and hard, Choppy! Use Dig!"

Choppy nodded and burrowed into the ground like a fish jumping into the water. Amber and Mugen looked around for a few moments and saw no trace of the land shark. Seconds later though, the fin on Choppy's back began to rise out of the ground. Choppy roared as he launched himself out of the ground and crashed into Mugen's right side. The chimera was knocked back a few feet but seemed relatively unharmed.

"Use Multi-Attack," Amber commanded.

Mugen roared as its body suddenly began to crackle with electricity. The energy continued to intensify and soon the chimera became shrouded in an icy mist. Mugen charged across the battlefield and rammed into Choppy at top speed. Choppy was hurled several feet into a nearby tree and fell forward to the ground soon after. The land shark's body was covered in a thick layer of frost. Meanwhile, the icy mist surrounding Mugen subsided.

Mairin called Choppy back to his ball and turned back to Amber. "What kind of attack was that?"

"That was Mugen's signature attack," Amber explained. "The Type of Multi-Attack changes depending on the memory disc being read by Mugen's RKS System."

"How did you even know that attack existed?" Mairin asked.

"Mugen told me," Amber answered. "The two of us are in telepathic communication. Now, send out your next Pokemon."

Mairin took a big gulp before tossing out her next pokeball. "Go Chespie!"

The brown rodent-like mammal that was Mairin's first Pokemon burst out of his ball. Mugen looked down at Chespie and growled, causing the Chespin to take a big gulp.

"Let's give it everything we've got Chespie!" Mairin told him. "Use Vine Whip!"

"Flamethrower," Amber commanded.

Chespie launched the green whips from his shoulders and lashed the chimera in the face twice. Mugen was seemingly unharmed and opened his jaws to breath out a stream of red flames down at the mammal Pokemon. At the last moment, Chespie managed to roll out of the attack's path. After getting back to his feet, Chespie cried out and his body began to glow, surprising both Mairin and Amber. In moments, the Chespin's body began to grow and change shape.

When the light faded, Chespie had taken on a new form. He had grown to a height of just over two feet and covering his body was a round green armored shell almost resembling the shell of a chestnut. The shell had two long green spikes with red tips where ears should be, and the green armor that covered the mammal's tail also had a red tip. The lower half of his body was brown, and there was a three-pointed section of brown fur on his chest. He had stubby brown limbs with short white claws on the hands and feet, and the tops of his arms were covered in sections of green armor. The mammal had a round light-brown face that had a pointed sound with a pink nose and a pair of large chocolate-brown eyes. His cheeks had triangular sections of brown fur, and on his forehead was a three-pointed crest of brown fur on his forehead.

"Your Pokemon has evolved into a Quilladin," Amber indifferently observed. "However, it will make no difference."

Mairin ignored Amber's comment and got out her pokedex again to see what she was looking at.

"Quilladin: The Spiny Amor Pokemon, and the evolved form of Chespin," the pokedex identified. "This Pokemon relies on its hard shell to defend itself and will counterattack when necessary using its sharp spines. Quilladin are known to strengthen their lower bodies by running into one another. These Pokemon have a very kind disposition and will never start fights."

Suddenly Chespie's arms became shrouded in a green aura that formed spiked balls around his hands. The armored mammal charged across the battlefield and leapt into the air as soon as he got close to Mugen. Chespie punched Mugen in the face twice with his aura-covered fists before jumping back.

"What… what kind of attack was that?" Mairin asked.

"That was your Quilladin's Needle Arm," Amber explained. "It learned that attack as soon as it had evolved."

"Okay then. Chespie, use Needle Arm one more time!" Mairin commanded.

"Air Slash," Amber ordered.

Before Chespie could make a move, Mugen slashed the air with the claws of its front right leg and sent a large blade of compressed air across the battlefield at Chespie. The armored Pokemon was struck in the chest and knocked onto his back.

"Finish it," Amber commanded. "Multi-Attack."

Just as Chespie had gotten back to his feet, Mugen roared as his body once again began to crackle with electricity. After becoming shrouded in an icy mist, Mugen charged across the battlefield and rammed into Chespie. The armored mammal was hurled back next to a spot by Mairin's face and fell to the ground face-first. Chespie was out like a light and his body was covered in a thick layer of frost. As Mairin kneeled down to tend to her fallen Pokemon, Amber called Mugen back to its ball.

"Thank you for the battle. It was just what Mugen needed to unlock its full power," Amber told the redhead.

"So what're you gonna do now?" Mairin asked.

"To you, nothing," Amber answered. "But now that Mugen has evolved, the time has finally come to deal with the organization that created it, the Aether Foundation. They need to answer for everything they've done to Mugen and those of its kind."

With that, Amber vanished with a flash of blue light. Mairin could do nothing except call Chespie back to his ball and head back to the Pokemon Center. As the redhead began her long walk, Mairin struggled to figure out what she was going to tell Alain.

* * *

Alain was sitting on a red couch on the ground level of the Pokemon Center looking out the window while Malva typed away at her laptop. The pinkette was once again searching the web for any signs that Amber was still in Alola, and just like before was finding nothing.

"Dammit!" Malva cursed as she finally shut her laptop. "I'm just not getting anywhere."

"So there are still no new signs of Amber," Alain deduced.

"No… well, none that I can be sure of anyway," Malva answered. "I thought she might end up revealing her presence by using that Type: Null she stole from Team Skull in a regular battle, but the problem is there's apparently been another trainer in this region who's also known for using a Type: Null. And just like Amber, I can't get any specific information."

Before Alain could ask Malva anything more, he noticed Mairin walking up to the front desk of the Pokemon Center. The redhead had a sad expression on her face as she handed the attendant two of her pokeballs. When that task was done, Mairin headed over to where Alain and Malva were.

"Mairin, what's wrong?" Alain asked.

"I… I screwed up," Mairin answered. "On my way back here… I ran into Amber. I know I should've called you, but I challenged her to a battle instead."

"You battled Amber?" a stunned Alain spoke as he got to his feet.

"Yeah… and I lost," Mairin told him. "I'm really sorry, Alain."

Alain smiled and put a hand on the redhead's shoulder. "That was a pretty stupid to challenge Amber like that, but the important thing is that you're okay."

"Did Amber fight you using that Type: Null of hers?" Malva asked.

"Yeah, except now its evolved into a Pokemon called Silvally," Mairin answered. "That Pokemon is crazy powerful. Even after Chespie evolved, I still didn't have a chance."

"Did Amber say anything after she defeated you?" Alain asked.

"She said that she was going to go after the group that made Type: Null in the first place, the Aether Foundation," Mairin answered. "Something about making them pay."

"What do we know about this Aether Foundation?" Alain asked.

"They're a local organization dedicated to protecting Pokemon, especially ones mistreated by humans," Malva explained. "They also have some very advanced technology at their disposal. In fact they even have their own artificially constructed island in this region that they call the Aether Paradise."

"It does sound like a group like that would be able to create an artificial Pokemon like Type: Null," Alain realized.

"Yeah, but the fact that they created such a Pokemon is a little suspicious, don't you think?" Malva pointed out. "I mean, Type: Null is the kind of Pokemon one would make as a weapon. Why would a group like the Aether Foundation need something like that?"

"Maybe they created it to protect that base of theirs?" Alain theorized.

"Perhaps… but I think there's something more to this group that meets the eye," Malva told them. "Call it a reporter's instinct."

"Well whether they're up to no good or not, we should try and warn this Aether Foundation about Amber," Alain told her. "If they really are a benevolent organization, then they don't deserve to get destroyed by Amber."

"Good point," Malva agreed. "I'll get in touch with Lysandre and see if he can get us a pass to the Aether Paradise. Hopefully we can get to them before Amber drops in on the place."

* * *

It was the dead of night as Amber flew across the ocean under the light of the moon. Eventually she came upon a large artificial island in the middle of the sea around the Alolan Islands. The largest part of the island was a white four-story building with smooth metal walls and a large helipad on the roof. On a smaller part of the metal island behind the building was a white palatial mansion with black roofs. Amber landed on the dock of the island in front of the large metal building and looked around to see no one around.

"Come on out! Zwei! Mugen! Sentry!" Amber called as she tossed out three of her pokeballs.

Zwei the Mewtwo burst out of the first pokeball while Mugen burst out of the second one. Amber's nine-foot Golurk burst out of the third ball with a thud.

"So, this is the Aether Paradise?" Zwei asked as she looked around.

"So it would seem," Amber replied.

Amber waved her right hand and the port on the side of Mugen's head opened up. The light blue memory disc that the chimera had been equipped with earlier flew out into Amber's waiting hand, causing Mugen's spikes, tail and eyes to return to their original color. The green-haired clone put the disc back into her coat, and with another wave of her hand caused a red disc to fly out and insert itself into the port on Mugen's head. The port closed back up, and Mugen's spikes, tailfin and eyes turned red.

"Let's go," Amber told her three Pokemon. "Sentry! Use Heavy Slam to break the wall!"

Sentry nodded and lumbered over to a spot in the metal wall of the building. The ghostly robot's body gave off an eerie yellow aura as it slammed its body into the wall, creating a massive hole. Sentry walked further into the building to find several startled men and women wearing white shirts and caps to stop and look. Zwei flew through the hole along with Mugen, with Amber following close behind. As soon as the four entered, one of the women in white pressed a large red button on the wall.

Red lights and sirens began to go off inside the building. Soon after, two groups consisting of six men in white coats and helmets with gold visors stormed into the large hallway carrying grey pole-like weapons.

"Quite the reception they have for us," Zwei remarked.

"But futile," Amber added. "Mugen! Use Flamethrower!"

Mugen breathed out a stream of flames at three of the people in white, causing them to flee. Meanwhile, Zwei's eyes glowed blue and the guards carrying the metal poles were hurled into the ceiling.

"What is going on here?" a voice asked, interrupting the commotion.

Amber and the others looked, and approaching from the large corridor directly in front of them was a young-looking woman with very long blonde veil-like hair that grew half way down her legs. She had on a sleeveless white dress with a large dark-blue diamond on the front and a short skirt with pieces of gold fabric that almost resembled flower petals, along with white stockings and high-heeled shoes. Walking a step behind the blonde was another women with a large plum-colored hairdo, wearing glasses with pink frames along with a white dress that went over a pink turtleneck sweater.

"I am Lusamine, president of the Aether Foundation," the blonde spoke. "Who are you, and why are you attacking this sanctuary? If it is to steal the Pokemon that we've been keeping safe here, then we will fight you to the very end to keep them safe."

"I have no interest in stealing the Pokemon you're supposedly protecting," Amber told her. "I am Amber Drei, and my friends and I have come to make you pay for the crimes you have committed."

"Crimes? What are you talking about?" Lusamine asked.

In answer to the blonde's question, Mugen let out a roar, starling both Lusamine and her purple-haired attendant.

"Mistress! That Pokemon…" the purple-haired woman spoke.

"That Silvally was evolved from a Type: Null that the organization known as Team Skull tried to auction off recently," Zwei informed them. "One of the Pokemon that your organization and warehoused after it failed to live up to your expectations."

"You treated Mugen like an object and then locked it away when you deemed its kind defective," Amber added. "For that, your organization must be obliterated!"

"I see… so in your eyes, the Type: Null have been mistreated," Lusamine spoke. "Wicke! Have Faba come down here immediately."

"At once, Mistress," the purple-haired woman replied.

"Amber Drei, let me ask you, why do you care so much about the Type: Null that our organization created?" Lusamine asked.

"Because all of my Pokemon and I are products of human science who were either discarded, abandoned or treated as less than living beings," Amber answered. "Any humans who have treated us this way must be punished."

"I understand," Lusamine told her. "You may not believe what I'm about to say, but the reason the Type: Null were frozen was in order to protect them from themselves. It was always our intention to awaken them again once we figured out how to fix the problem with the RKS System we built into them, but so far we haven't found a good solution. But since I'm sure that sounds like nothing more than an excuse to you, then let me offer you this proposal."

Lusamine stepped up to Amber and then got on her knees.

"To atone for the crimes you view that we've committed against the Type: Null, I offer you my life," Lusamine continued. "In exchange, I only ask that you spare this organization and allow us to continue its work of helping all the Pokemon of this world and others."

"Mistress! No!" a horrified Wicke called out.

"My life is in your hands, Amber," Lusamine spoke.

Amber was taken a bit off guard by Lusamine's offer. She had never expected the leader of the Aether Foundation to pay some sort of penance for the mistreatment of the Type: Null. That was something that Amber did not think any human would do of his or her own free will. As Amber thought about how to proceed, she noticed something at the far end of the corridor on her left. The door was open to reveal a white chamber filled with several pink bird-like creatures made of different geometric shapes as if they had been rendered in outdated modeling software from the 1980s. The ends of their beaks were blue, as were their chests, and on the sides of their bodies were blue appendages that appeared to act like wings or thrusters that allowed them to hover through the air.

"What are all those Porygon doing here?" Amber asked. "Are you collecting them to use as weapons as well?"

"It's nothing like that at all!" Wicke told her. "Those Porygon are just a few of the Pokemon that those of us here at the Aether Foundation have taken in. Almost all of them had been abandoned because their trainers felt like they couldn't live up to their expectations. Sure we use those Porygon to help us run our operations here at the Paradise, but they are far from being slaves or tools! They're living things that need our protection. Look, Ms. Drei, I can understand why you're angry at us, but please try to judge our organization by all the good things it has done and not by the few bad things we've done."

"What shall we do Amber?" Zwei asked.

"…Perhaps we are rushing to judgment," Amber decided. "Get up, Lusamine."

As Lusamine got to her feet, walking into the corridor was a man with short blonde hair and a blonde beard on his chin. He had on large green goggles and a buttoned white lab coat with gold gloves, like white pants and white shoes.

"What the devil is so important that you interrupted…" the man began to ask, but stopped upon noticing Amber and her three Pokemon. "Oh my!"

"Amber Drei, I'd like you to meet our branch chief and the head of our science department, Faba," Lusamine announced. "He's also the one who created the Type: Null."

"Madame President… this is a sight that I never thought I would encounter," Faba spoke as he came closer. "One of the Pokemon here with this young visitor of ours is the legendary Mewtwo… a Pokemon made by science. I've read articles about it, but I never dreamed that I'd get to see it in the flesh."

"I am the second Mewtwo to be created," Zwei revealed. "My trainer, Amber is also a product of cloning."

"My word!" a stunned Faba exclaimed. "A cloned human? If I may be so bold, who is the one who created you?"

"Zwei and I were both created by Dr. Fuji," Amber answered.

"As in Dr. Ichiro Fuji?" Faba asked. "I never would've imagined… but then I suppose he would be the only one capable of such a feat."

"Faba, Ms. Amber is angry about how the Type: Null were mistreated," Wicke informed him. "She came here to exact some sort of revenge on us."

"She was able to get her hands on one of our Type: Null prototypes and managed to get it to evolve," Lusamine added.

"Yes! So I see," Faba replied upon taking a closer look at Mugen. The chimera growled at the scientist, causing him to flinch. "Um, Ms. Amber, was it? I can understand your outrage. I more than anyone else in this organization feels as though we failed the Type: Null. They were after all my creations. Perhaps the problem was that I had tried to achieve too much.

"My goal at the time was to create a Pokemon that could mimic the power of the mythical Arceus, and I suppose in the end I was too arrogant for believing I could replicate the power of a god. Since the failure of the Type: Null project, I've done everything I could to try and fix the problem. But then again, perhaps you have fixed the problem for us. It seems that your training is what caused the Type: Null in your possession to evolve and finally gain control of the RKS System. The solution was in a way so simple that it never occurred to me to try it."

"Amber, I know we made some mistakes regarding the Type: Null, but we've also done a lot of good as well," Lusamine told her. "Why not learn more about our organization before passing judgment?"

"…Very well," Amber agreed. "We will take the time to learn more about your organization. But be warned, if my friends and I are not satisfied by what we see, we will annihilate you."

"Fair enough," Lusamine replied as she smiled and took both of Amber's hands. "We'll start by showing you around our Paradise."

With that, Lusamine, Wicke and Faba showed Amber and her three Pokemon around the main building of the artificial island. The building was a large complex filled with state of the art facilities, including a Pokemon treatment center that Wicke was primarily in charge of, and several labs used for various areas of research. Also in the building was an advanced digital archive, which the Porygon that Amber had seen earlier assisted in running. There were also several enclosures for Pokemon of various environments. During the tour, Amber learned that the Aether Foundation also protected certain Pokemon from their natural predators as well as from humans who would abuse them.

It was in the largest of the enclosures where Amber's tour had ended and the group had decided to stop and chat. Amber had become very unsure what to think about the Aether Foundation after all that she had learned about them. Before she had been certain that the group was another heartless organization like Team Skull, but their goals seemed truly benevolent. They even seemed to feel great regret over how they had treated the Type: Null. And despite how the chimera Pokemon had been mistreated, Amber was finding it harder to dislike the group.

"Well Amber, I hope that you think better of us after all that you have seen here," Lusamine spoke. "The goal of my organization has always been to protect Pokemon and shower them with my love, whether those Pokemon be from here, from another region, or from a world beyond our own."

"This artificial island of yours certainly is impressive," Zwei remarked. "I'm actually also a little surprised that a woman as young as you is running such an advanced organization."

Lusamine chuckled. "That's a very sweet comment of you to make, Zwei. But I'm actually in my forties. In any case though, I hope you and your trainer do think better of us after all that you've seen."

"There are still some things about your group that I'm unclear about," Amber spoke. "First of all, there's the matter of Mugen's evolved form. The pokedex of a trainer I had faced earlier had information on Silvally. How is it that you did not know Type: Null was capable of evolving."

"Well we didn't in the beginning," Lusamine answered. "Tell me… what did this trainer's pokedex say about Silvally?"

"It said that the name of the species was coined by the boy who had first evolved a Type: Null," Amber answered. "I take it that this person isn't associated with your group?"

"Unfortunately no," Lusamine confirmed, her expression giving away her displeasure. "There was another Type: Null prototype stolen from us besides the one you had ended up with. The boy you mentioned was the one who has stolen it."

"Do you know who this boy is?" Zwei asked.

"He was a selfish little boy who was ungrateful for everything I…!" Lusamine snapped, but she quickly composed herself and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I guess the theft of that first Type: Null still bothers me. But then I suppose that Pokemon ended up in good hands, as did the Type: Null that you ended up with."

"There's still one more question I have," Amber told her. "Why did you create the Type: Null in the first place? It doesn't seem like your organization would need to make a Pokemon like that to use as a weapon."

"Yes, well… it was unfortunately a necessary precaution we needed to take," Lusamine revealed as she folded her hands behind her back and looked out over the pool of the enclosure. "You see Type: Null was created to combat a very dangerous threat, one that is thought to have attacked Alola once before in ancient times. Tell me Amber, have you heard of a dimension known as Ultra Space?"

"No," the green-haired clone answered. "What is it?"

"It is another dimension that sometimes links up with our own," Lusamine explained. "My former husband discovered it once many years ago. The dimension is inhabited by creatures called Ultra Beasts."

"Are these creatures some kind of Pokemon?" Zwei asked.

"That is a point that we are actually very unclear on," Faba answered. "From what little we know, they do appear to be Pokemon of some fashion, yet ordinary pokeballs are practically useless when it comes to capturing them."

"A few times in the past, these some of these Ultra Beasts have escaped their world and ended up in ours," Lusamine continued. "Whenever they have, they've caused nothing but chaos and destruction. But I suppose the reason for that is because those poor beasts had gotten lost and were just trying to get home. If I could, I would shower them with my love as well."

"Have you seen one of these Ultra Beasts before?" Amber asked.

"At least one," Lusamine answered as an odd look came to her eyes. "Many years ago during one of my husband's experiments. It was… beautiful."

"The whole reason behind the Type: Full project was to create Pokemon that were capable of combating the Ultra Beasts should any of them enter our world again," Faba explained. "That is why I tried to give them a power similar to that of Arceus. After all, what better weapon against this threat could there be than a Pokemon with the power of the very being that supposedly created our world?"

"You'll forgive me if I'm a little skeptical about the existence of these Ultra Beasts," Amber told them. "When Dr. Fuji created me, he programmed me with a vast amount of knowledge, including information on all known Pokemon and other areas of science. None of that information included anything about those creature."

"Oh, they truly do exist, my dear Amber," Lusamine told her, still gazing out over the pond with a look that seemed like longing in her eyes. "And they could come to our world at any time… in any place."

Suddenly as if on cue, a flash of blue light went off inside the large enclosure. The light soon changed into a large portal like a wormhole.

Startled, Amber rose to her feet upon seeing the anomaly. "What is this?"

"It's an Ultra Wormhole!" Faba answered. "A portal that leads into Ultra Space! This is exactly what we were telling you about, Ms. Amber."

A few moments passed, and flying out of the wormhole suddenly was a strange creature resembling a white jellyfish. It was just about four feet tall and had tentacles arranged and shaped like the hair, dress, and legs of a little girl. The bell that acted as the top of the creature's head resembling a sunhat. This bell was transparent except for several six-pointed stars around the crown, and the brim of it was wavy and had a blue edge.

"It's finally come back…" Lusamine whispered. "My beautiful… Nihilego."

"Amber, I just tried reading this creature's mind," Zwei reported. "It's thoughts are… strange… practically incomprehensible. I don't know if it perceives things differently than we do, or if it's something else."

"Is this one of the Ultra Beasts you were just telling me about?" Amber asked.

Wicke nodded. "This one has the codename, UB-01 Symbiont. It's more properly known as Nihilego. This Ultra Beast was the first one ever to be discovered."

Suddenly two more jellyfish creatures flew out of the wormhole to float alongside the first Nihilego. Zwei, Mugen and Sentry all tensed up as soon as the other two creatures arrived.

"Amber! While I can't make sense of these creatures' thoughts, I can tell that their intent is hostile!" Zwei told her.

"I can sense it as well," Amber responded. "Be ready!"

Suddenly all three Nihilego fired sparking beams of blue light from their sunhat-shaped bells down at Amber's three Pokemon. Mugen quickly jumped out of the way, while both Zwei and Sentry were hit in the chest.

"A Power Gem attack!" Faba identified. "These Nihilego are exceptionally strong."

With a wave of Amber's hand, the port on the side of Mugen's head opened up and the Fire Memory disc that the clone had placed in their earlier flew out, causing the chimera's spikes, eyes and tail to return to normal. Amber placed the disc back in her coat and levitated a steel grey disc that flew through the air and inserted itself into Mugen's head port. The port closed up and Mugen's spikes, eyes and tail turned steel-grey. The Nihilego that had fired at Mugen earlier flew down and rammed into Mugen's chest at full speed. Mugen was seemingly unharmed though and merely roared at the jellyfish creature.

"Mugen! Use Multi-Attack!" Amber commanded.

Mugen roared again and its body crackled electricity before pulsing with a steely-grey light. The chimera rammed into the Nihilego and hurled it into the fence in front of the enclosure's pond.

"Sentry!" Amber called out before crossing her arms in front of her face. The green-haired clone then tapped her fists against each other twice before launching them forward. "Corkscrew Crash!"

Gold energy flowed from Amber into Sentry for a few moments until the golem's body gave off a golden flame-like aura. The Golurk then turned steel-grey and grew larger, and several drills shot out of its body only to recede moments later. Sentry then changed into a giant drill that shot towards the Nihilego that had fired on it earlier like a missile, ramming into it at full speed. The alien jellyfish was pushed back towards the glass wall of the enclosure by the drill and eventually knocked to the ground. The Nihilego managed to get back up, but smoke was rising from its body. Meanwhile, the drill's flight path curved upward only to loop back and ram into the jellyfish creature from above and drill it into the ground. With its attack finished, the drill flew back to Amber's side and changed back into Sentry.

As this was going on, the first Nihilego fired another sparkling beam of light at Zwei. This time Zwei crossed her arms in front of her chest to protect herself. The stone in Amber's metal choker began to glow, as did the larger stone in Zwei's belt. Zwei's body gave off a blinding purple flash in the shape of a Y, which faded moments later to reveal the psychic feline in her shorter mega form. A multicolored light in the shape of a DNA helix momentarily glowed above Zwei's head. Meanwhile, Amber levitated into the air.

"Lusamine! You and the others should take cover!" Zwei and Amber told them.

As Wicke and Faba did as the duo suggested, Lusamine merely looked up at them in awe. "How… beautiful."

The Nihilego fired another beam of light from its head, but this time Zwei flew out of the attack's path, leaving a trail of afterimages in her wake. Zwei then spread her arms outward and created a ball of light that grew to over twice the size of her body.

"Psystrike!" Zwei and Amber called out as the feline brought her arms forward.

The ball of light flew across the battlefield and struck the alien jellyfish, creating a massive explosion of light. When the light faded, the Nihilego was on the ground. After a few moments, all three of the alien jellyfish got back up and flew into the wormhole from whence they came. The wormhole then closed up with a flash of blue light. Zwei reverted back to her original form, and both she and Amber landed back on the ground.

"We tried using as little power as possible in order to avoid destroying the enclosure," Zwei told Lusamine and the others.

"We thank you very much for that," Wicke responded.

"What did you think of those creatures, Zwei?" Amber asked. "Were they Pokemon?"

"I am not entirely certain," Zwei answered. "If they truly were Pokemon, they are unlike any from this world. What did you think Amber?"

"There is a species of Pokemon from another dimension called the Unown, but these Ultra Beasts seemed totally unlike those Pokemon," Amber replied. "Whether they're Pokemon or not, they're clearly from a world totally unlike ours."

"Your psychic abilities seemed to give you a great insight into the Nihilego," Faba noted. "Out of curiosity, do you know why they attacked?"

"They clearly viewed Mugen, Sentry and myself as a threat," Zwei answered. "While their thought processes were totally alien, I could sense that self-preservation seemed to be their primary instinct."

"I'd like to thank you all for your help," Lusamine interrupted. "You're truly an amazing trainer, Amber. And I do hope that your experience here has shown you that we are not the wicked organization you first thought we were."

"Your intentions towards this world seem to be good," Amber admitted. "After what I have seen tonight, I have decided not to destroy your organization."

"Glad to hear," Lusamine replied. "Then perhaps we can count on your help in the future. More wormholes are sure to open up in the future, and when they do, more Ultra Beasts will run amok in our world. When that time finally does come, I would like you to help us calm those poor beasts and guide them back home."

"We will consider it," Amber replied.

With that, Amber called Mugen and Sentry back to their pokeballs and said her goodbyes to Lusamine and her staff before leaving the compound with Zwei. The two flew in silence for several minutes as they headed away from the Aether Paradise.

"Amber… do you truly think it was wise to leave the Aether Foundation alone?" Zwei asked.

"While they mishandled the treatment of Mugen and the other Type: Null, I do feel the people of the Aether Foundation are unlike most humans," Amber answered. "For now I think we should give them a chance. Besides, we could use allies when the time comes for us to finally remake this world. Why? What is it that has you concerned?"

"I'm not sure," Zwei replied. "There was just something about the organization's leader, Lusamine that I found… peculiar. Then again, maybe I'm just imagining things."

"Well if they do cause problems in the end, we can simply crush them as we had originally planned," Amber assured her. "For now, we should resume our search for Mewtwo Ein. We'll need him in order to finally reshape this world."

* * *

It was midday as a white Aether Foundation helicopter carrying Alain, Mairin and Malva landed atop the main building of the Aether Paradise. As the three got out, they found Lusamine on the roof waiting for them along with Wicke and four guards in helmets. Lusamine approached Alain and the others as they came towards her delegation, with Wicke following a step behind.

"This certainly is quite the surprise," Lusamine spoke. "When Lysandre said that he'd be sending people to talk to me about an important matter, he didn't mention that one of those people would be Malva of the Kalos Elite Four. This certainly is quite an honor."

"And we're honored that you permitted us to come here, President Lusamine," Malva replied as she shook the blonde's hand.

"So tell me, what is this urgent matter that you came here to talk to me about?" Lusamine asked.

"We came here to warn you about an extremely dangerous trainer named Amber Drei," Malva explained. "She's a human gifted with incredible psychic powers, and what makes her even more dangerous is that she's armed with the legendary Pokemon, Mewtwo."

"Oh my!" Lusamine responded. "This woman does sound formidable. But why on earth would she be a threat to our organization? We've done nothing except help Pokemon who have been mistreated."

"Amber is furious with you because of the way you mistreated the artificial Pokemon, Type: Null," Alain answered. "When she does here, and she will, she won't hesitate to destroy this whole compound. And she has the power to do it. We've seen her use it more than once."

"Well… I can understand her reaction," Lusamine admitted. "The Type: Null project is something that we're not very proud of. Still, I don't think there's any real reason to worry. I'm sure that once this trainer you're talking about sees what a kind organization we are and all the good we've done for the Pokemon of Alola, she'll change her mind about destroying us."

"President Lusamine! I don't think you fully appreciate how dangerous Amber is!" an alarmed Alain told her. "She's one of the most powerful trainers this world has ever known, and she has a great anger towards the world. If you don't do something now, this whole island of yours could be destroyed!"

"What's your name, young man?" Lusamine asked.

"Alain Grant," the dark-haired trainer answered.

"Well Alain, I'm deeply touched by your concern, but I really don't think there's anything to worry about," Lusamine told him. "I'm sure that this Amber Drei you're so worried about can be reasoned with. Now if there's nothing else, I should be getting back to my office. Unfortunately, the mountain of work I have right now prevents me from being a proper host."

"There is one other thing," Malva spoke. "Just before landing, I noticed that there was a large hole in the side of this building. Mind telling us what caused it?"

Lusamine chuckled. "Oh that? Some of the larger Pokemon we keep here wandered out of their enclosure last night and got a little overexcited. It's nothing that you need to concern yourselves with. Now then, I really should get back to work. And since you three came all this way, it wouldn't be right to let you leave without taking a tour of our fine facility. My assistant branch chief, Wicke will show you around."

"As you wish, Mistress," Wicke responded as Lusamine left. "Now, if you three will come with me, we can begin our tour with the top floor."

* * *

After taking a whirlwind tour of the Aether Paradise, Alain and his companions ended up in one of the larger enclosures of the facility as they waited for their ride off the island. The three were still totally stunned by how unconcerned Lusamine was by the threat of an attack by Amber.

"I don't get it," Mairin spoke. "Do you think that Ms. Lusamine just didn't believe us?"

"I don't know. There's just something fishy about this whole thing," Malva answered. "For instance that hole in the wall I mentioned? It looked like it had been caused by something that had broken its way in, not out. Lusamine isn't telling us the truth."

"Do you think Amber was already here?" Alain asked.

"I don't know," Malva answered. "Probably not, because otherwise this whole artificial island would be a flaming wreck."

At that moment, Wicke entered the enclosure with a white bag slung over her shoulder. "Mr. Grant! Maybe I have a word with you alone?"

Alain shrugged and headed over to the doorway of the enclosure where Wicke was. The two of them went out into the hallway.

"What is it?" Alain asked.

"There's something I believe you should know," Wicke began. "Amber Drei did show up here at the Aether Paradise last night."

"What?" a stunned Alain exclaimed. "But… how is it that you weren't destroyed?"

"President Lusamine somehow convinced her to spare us," Wicke answered. "She even offered her life to Ms. Amber in exchange for not destroying this island. In the end, we were able to convince Ms. Amber that we weren't the evil organization she first thought we were."

"I simply don't believe it," Alain spoke.

"Yes, well I'm afraid you and your friends still have a great cause for alarm," Wicke told him. "I believe President Lusamine may eventually try to make Ms. Amber into an ally to help with her real plans. If she does manage to do that, this world could be in even greater danger."

"What do you mean?" Alain asked.

"I'm afraid there's very little I'm free to say," Wicke told him. "I can tell you that President Lusamine is… not well. What she actually has planned must be stopped, and if Amber Drei joins her, she'll be even harder to stop."

"I have no idea what this is about, but I'm going to do everything in my power to capture Amber before she has a chance to do any more damage," Alain assured her.

"Then I'm going to give you something to help you with that," Wicke decided.

The purple-haired woman reached into the white bag she had slung over her shoulder and pulled out a pair of objects, a pokeball and a metal canister.

"Are these what I think they are?" Alain asked.

Wicke nodded. "This pokeball contains the final Type: Null prototype. I'm also giving you the memory discs that it would become able to use if it evolves. I believe this Type: Null would be much better off with you, and it could help you a lot in your quest."

"Thank you," Alain told her as he took the pokeball and the canister. "I'll take good care of it."

"Good luck, Mr. Alain," Wicke told him. "I truly hope you can prevent the worst from happening to our world."

* * *

Lusamine was sitting in her office with a somewhat bored expression on her face as Faba went over some reports with her. As the scientist came to the end of his final report, Wicke entered the office.

"Excuse the interruption, Mistress Lusamine," Wicke spoke. "But I thought you should know that the three that Mr. Lysandre had sent to meet with us have left."

"They didn't press you too much about that hole in the wall, did they?" Lusamine asked.

"Not at all," Wicke answered. "And on that subject, the wall should be repaired within five days."

"Very good," Lusamine replied. "It seems in the end, that idiot, Guzma did us a favor by trying to auction off that Type: Null prototype. If he hadn't our new friend probably wouldn't have found out about us."

"President, are you certain that we can rely on Ms. Amber as an ally once we finally launch our master plan?" Faba asked.

"Oh, I think she'll help us," Lusamine answered as she got up from her chair. "Now then Faba, if we're done, I'd like to spend some time to myself."

"Of course," Faba replied with a bow.

Lusamine stepped onto a blue-green square in the corner of her office and was enveloped in a beam of blue light. When the light faded, Lusamine was in an enormous darkened room with a large white platform. Scattered around the platform in various spots were Pokemon of different species frozen in large blocks of ice. Lusamine walked across the bridge from the pad she had used to get into the room. A twisted smile appeared on the blonde's face as she ran her fingers along the edges of one of the ice blocks.

After a few moments, Lusamine walked over and sat down in a black chair in front of a good-sized computer station that was set up on the platform. After pressing a few keys, three large holographic screens appeared in the air above the station. One of the screens showed one of the Nihilego that had attacked the enclosure the night before. The other two screens showed images of Amber and Zwei.

"Ah… my dear Nihilego," Lusamine spoke, raising her hand towards the screen showing the alien jellyfish. "If only you hadn't left me. But it doesn't matter. I'll finally be able to go where you are once I finally track down that ungrateful little thief." She then turned to the image of Amber. "And my darling Amber Drei. You're incredibly beautiful as well, and you bring out the true beauty of that Mewtwo of yours. Soon enough I will make you mine, and eventually we'll live together in bliss with my sweet beast. I know how you must hate this world, but in time I'll take you away from it to a paradise beyond your wildest dreams. Just you wait, my darling."

FIN

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I certainly crammed a lot of stuff into this story. Alain got a new Pokemon. We saw Mairin battle Amber, and I'll be very interested to know how those of you reading reacted to her Chespin evolving like that. I kind of get the feeling that a lot of you might object to it, but I've been known to be wrong about that sort of thing before. I really debated about whether or not to have Chespie evolve during that battle, and I hope I made the right decision.

The biggest part of this episode though was Amber meeting Lusamine and the Aether Foundation. It was kind of fun writing for Lusamine, as she's a very interesting villain. I hope those of you reading enjoyed my portrayal of her. So obviously Lusamine will be playing a pretty big role in some of the later episodes of this collection. It'll probably be quite some time before I do those stories though, mainly because of the upcoming Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon games.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	7. Project Z, Part 1

**Author's Note:** I'm guessing that the few of you that are still following this "oneshot collection" are surprised to suddenly see it updated again after over a year. The major reason why this thing suddenly went dead is because I pretty much ran out of ideas for stories to add. Not only that, I had another project I was working on at the time of the last story. Then after I got that project finished, I had to adapt to certain changes in my personal life, such as a new job. Well, a few days ago I found myself rereading _Mewtwo Zwei_ and the stories in this collection as a way to get over a small bout of depression that I seem to have come down with, and in doing so I found that I had some ideas about where to take this thing.

So for the next two weeks at least, I've decided to take a little break from the _Yu-Gi-Oh! GX/Strawberry Panic_ crossover I've been writing to wrap this project up. That's right, I've decided to simply bring this "oneshot collection" to a close at this point. After reviewing the previous episodes of this thing, I felt like any other story I could come up with would only be a repeat of what's already been done here. The other thing is I don't really consider this to be a oneshot collection anymore. It hasn't seemed like one for the last three episodes. Therefor I'm just going to finally wrap up what I've got going here in order to take Amber's storyline to the next stage.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon.

* * *

Project Z, Part 1

The sun had almost totally set as Lysandre sat at his desk looking over some papers. He was almost finished with his work when a black disc-shaped device began to beep. Lysandre pressed the button on top of the device, causing a beam of blue light to project from the front. The end of the beam took the shape of a woman wearing glasses. The woman in question was one of Lysandre's most trusted operatives, Malva.

"What have you to report," Lysandre asked.

 _"Not much, I'm afraid,"_ the hologram of Malva answered. _"There haven't been any sightings of Amber Drei since the incidents in Alola."_

Lysandre sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "For five weeks now she's been laying low. It's infuriating that all we can do is wait until she and that Mewtwo of hers lash out at someone."

 _"I may have come up with a solution to that problem,"_ Malva spoke. _"It occurred to me this morning that there might be a way to make Amber Drei come to us."_

"How?" Lysander asked as he leaned forward eagerly.

 _"Well we know that Amber Drei seems to be looking for the original Mewtwo created by Dr. Fuji,"_ Malva reminded him. _"If we got the media to report numerous fake sightings of Mewtwo in Lumiose City, we might get Amber to show up right in our own backyard."_

"At which point we might be able to capture her," Lysandre realized. "How long would it take to set this trap?"

 _"Not long at all,"_ Malva answered. _"I just need to make some calls to a few trusted friends in the media. We can have our first Mewtwo sighting reported around the world by tomorrow morning."_

"Very good. In the meantime, you and Alain should return here as soon as possible," Lysandre ordered. "I'll need you both on hand in case Amber Drei really shows up."

Malva nodded, and with that her hologram vanished. Suddenly running into the office a second later was a slightly overweight man with chalk-white skin. He was almost totally bald except for patches of red hair on the sides and top of his head, and a short red ponytail on the back that stood up like a flame. The man had red goggles on his eyes and a small pointed red beard on his chin. He was dressed in a suit that was almost totally red except for some white trim. A blue rubber glove covered his left hand, while the right hand was bare. The man's other glove was sticking out of the pocket of his jacket.

"What is it, Xerosic?" Lysandre asked as he rose from his chair.

"Sir! I thought you should know in person that our final search team has found fifth core," Xerosic reported. "They are brining it here to the lab as we speak and will be here by morning."

A triumphant grin formed on Lysandre's face. "Wonderful news! At last we can begin the next phase of Project Z!"

"Actually there is one problem," Xerosic informed him. "The device to control the cores hasn't reached maximum power. We just haven't collected quite enough Mega Evolution energy."

"How close are we to achieving full power?" Lysandre asked.

"Well we're actually almost there," Xerosic answered. "In addition to the energy being produced by young Mr. Alain, we've also been getting substantial energy from that clone woman you've had him chasing after."

"Of course… after all, we did create the belt for that Mewtwo's Mega Stone," Lysandre recalled.

"You did create those synthetic Mega Stones as a way to more easily produce energy for the device," Xerosic pointed out. "Even though Dr. Fuji's project did get out of control, our project regarding the stone we gave him is achieving its intended purpose."

"Indeed it is. I wanted to capture Amber Drei because I feared she might somehow derail our plans," Lysandre remarked. "But now that Project Z is almost ready for the next phase, perhaps we should consider changing our tactics. I think we should offer Ms. Drei an invitation to join us."

* * *

It was fairly early in the morning as Amber Drei awoke in her room at the Saffron City Sunset Hotel. The green-haired clone had been staying there for the past few weeks in the hopes that the original Mewtwo might actually show up in the city. So far though, her stay had been a complete waste of time. As Amber got out of bed and used her telekinesis to start the coffee maker while getting dressed, one of the pokeballs on the dresser burst open and Zwei emerged. The psychic feline had made it a habit to let herself out of her ball at about the same time Amber got out of bed.

"Good morning, Zwei," Amber spoke. "I trust you slept well."

"Amber, how much longer are we going to stay in this city?" Zwei asked. "It doesn't seem like Mewtwo Ein is going to ever make an appearance."

"It does seem unlikely," Amber admitted as she got her cup of complimentary hotel coffee. "Still, what little we do know about Mewtwo Ein seems to indicate that he likes to frequent this city for some reason. If we wait long enough, he might just come to us. Besides, it occurred to me that it might be best to remain hidden for a time."

"Are you worried about others like Alain coming to hunt us down?" Zwei asked. "Opponents like them are nothing before us."

"True, but they are annoying," Amber pointed out. "Until we can finally unite with Mewtwo Ein, it would make things easier for us to remain discreet."

"I suppose you're right," Zwei agreed. "And remaining in this city might give you another chance to encounter that young man, Quinton Mercury."

Amber's cheeks turned a bit red upon hearing Quinton's name. "I don't know why you would consider him a factor in me wanting us to remain here."

"You did seem to enjoy his company a great deal," Zwei reminded her with a small smirk. "And that night you spent with him was quite pleasurable."

"It was merely an opportunity to experience sexual intercourse to see what it was like, nothing more," Amber told the feline, her face becoming an even brighter shade of red.

"If you say so," Zwei responded.

Amber turned on the T.V. in the hopes of distracting Zwei from the topic of Quinton Mercury. The show that appeared on the screen was a broadcast of the morning news.

"…And in other news, sightings of the mysterious Pokemon, Mewtwo continue to occur in Lumiose City," spoke the blonde female newscaster on the screen. "This marks the sixth sighting in three days of the creature. Researchers continue to speculate as to why…"

"Lumiose City… that's in the Kalos Region," Zwei recalled. "I never expected Mewtwo Ein to show up there."

"Nor did I," Amber responded. "It looks like we'll be departing Saffron City after all."

* * *

It was the middle of the night as Alain waited behind a bush in front of Lysandre Labs with Mairin. The two had waited behind that same bush for the past five nights for Amber to show up, and for those five nights there was nothing. Both Malva and Lysandre seemed absolutely certain that Amber would show up there eventually, especially since the phony Mewtwo sightings they had concocted all reported that Lysandre Labs was there the genetically engineer Pokemon showed up the most.

"Looks like it's gonna be another quiet night," Mairin spoke with a yawn.

"Maybe you should go to bed," Alain suggested. "I can handle Amber Drei on my own."

"No way! I'm sticking with you," Mairin declared.

Before Alain could argue, he saw a small shape flying over the city in the moonlight. In moments he and Mairin could see that it was Amber flying through the air, and she was headed right for the lab's front yard where they were hiding. The two waited silently and tensely as Amber made her landing.

"Whatever happens, stay here," Alain whispered. "If the battle gets out of hand, run for cover. I don't want you getting hurt."

"I'll be careful," Mairin responded with a thumbs-up.

Amber had only been looking around for a few moments when Alain finally sprung out of the bush. "Amber Drei!"

"Alain?" Amber responded with a raised eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"

"My job," Alain answered as he pointed a hand at her. "This time I'm going to capture you!"

"You're welcome to try, but it will be futile," Amber responded. "I am a little curious though as to how you tracked me down this time."

Alain smirked. "Those sightings of the original Mewtwo that have been happening around the city? They were fake, a trap designed to lure you right here to this spot. Actually, I'm a little surprised that you feel for it, considering the name of the building we're in front of made it a bit obvious that this was a setup."

"…Lysandre, the name of your employer, and the one who funded Dr. Fuji's work," Amber recalled. "Had I bothered to remember the name, I likely would've realized that this was all a farce. It doesn't matter though. This battle can only end one way."

"I've had enough of your arrogance!" Alain declared as he threw out a pokeball. "Let's go! Charizard!"

The fire dragon burst from his ball and roared as he blew a stream of flames towards the sky.

"Go Zwei!" Amber called as she tossed out her own pokeball.

Zwei burst out of the ball and immediately noticed Alain and his dragon. "The boy and the Charizard again? I admire their persistence, but there timing is very inconvenient."

"I'm afraid we've been tricked, Zwei. Mewtwo Ein was never in this city," Amber informed her. "This was all a trap set by Alain's employer to get us here."

"And there's no way you're getting out!" Alain told them. "Charizard! Use Flamethrower!"

"Dodge and use Shadow Ball!" Amber ordered.

The keystone in Alain's Mega Ring lit up along with Charizard's Mega Stone, and in seconds the dragon's body lit up with a blinding blue flash that took the shape of an X. The light quickly faded to reveal Charizard in his larger black Mega form as a multicolored DNA helix flashed briefly above his head. With his transformation finished, Charizard breathed out a stream of blue flames at Zwei. The psychic feline quickly flew to the right and successfully dodged the attack. She then flew towards Charizard as a ball of crackling black energy formed between her hands.

Zwei got in close and launched the ball into Charizard's chest. The force of the attack managed to knock the dragon back about six feet, but it hadn't seemed to do much damage to him.

"Fight back with Thunder Punch!" Alain commanded.

Charizard roared and flew straight towards Zwei with incredible speed. When he got in close, the dragon swung his electrified fist straight up into Zwei's chin. The force of the attack caused Zwei to flip through the air five times before she stopped to hover above the battlefield.

"Use Psychic!" Amber commanded.

Zwei's eyes glowed blue as she aimed her right hand down towards Charizard. Charizard's body began to glow with a blue aura before suddenly being pushed into the ground by an invisible force with enough power to cause a huge crater to form in the ground.

"Dammit! You're not even taking me seriously, are you?" Alain protested. "If you were, you would've had Zwei Mega Evolve already!"

"That temper of yours only makes you easier to defeat," Amber told him. "You really should do a better job of maintaining your composure."

Alain gritted his teeth in frustration. "Charizard! Use Steel Wing!"

Charizard finally got back up and roared before taking off into the air towards Zwei. As he came in striking range, the dragon's wings began to glow with a white light. Charizard's right wing struck Zwei in the chest, knocking her back a few feet.

"Now use Flamethrower!" Alain commanded.

Charizard breathed out another stream of blue flames at Zwei. The feline crossed her arms to shield herself and endured the attack.

"This Charizard seems to have gotten stronger," Zwei told Amber.

"So it would seem," Amber observed. "Then I suppose it's time we stopped playing around."

With that, Amber's keystone and Zwei's Mega Stone both lit up, and suddenly Zwei's body gave off a blinding purple flash that took the shape of a Y. In seconds the light faded to reveal Zwei in her much shorter but more powerful Mega form. Zwei flew towards Charizard as a ball of black energy formed between her hands. The feline move in close and launched the ball straight into the dragon's chest. Charizard was knocked back a few feet but seemed to once again be relatively unharmed.

"Use Flamethrower again, followed by Dragon Claw!" Alain ordered.

Charizard breathed out another stream of flames at Zwei. Zwei dodged the attack by flying to the left, leaving a trail of afterimages in her wake. Soon after though, Charizard flew towards her with incredible speed as the claws of his right hand glowed and became longer. Then in a split second he slashed Zwei across the chest. Amber staggered back a step and clutched her chest as if she had been attacked as well.

"Impressive," Amber and Zwei spoke together. "You really have improved a bit. But you're still not anywhere near our level of power! Psychic!"

Zwei's eyes glowed red and suddenly Charizard's body froze as it gave off a red aura. With a movement of the feline's hands, Charizard was flung down into the street in front of the lab building with enough force to shatter the pavement. The dragon had already started to get up as the dust cleared, but as soon as he did, Zwei had already created a ball of energy four times the size of her body.

"Psystrike!" Zwei and Amber called out together as the Pokemon launched the ball towards Charizard.

The attack struck Charizard with an explosive force that created a blinding flash and knocked away the cars on the street that were parked nearby. The shockwave from the explosion also shattered the windows of the lab building. When the light faded, Charizard was on the ground and in his original form unconscious.

After a moment, Alain suddenly fell to his knees and slammed his fist into the ground. "Dammit!"

Meanwhile, Zwei returned to her original form and landed on the ground next to Amber. "That went much better than our last battle."

"Indeed. Alain and his Charizard put up a much better fight," Amber agreed.

"Enough!" a voice spoke. Alain and the others looked to see Lysandre emerge from the building, flaked by both Malva and Xerosic.

"I take it you are Lysandre," Amber deduced.

"And you are Amber Drei," Lysandre responded as he walked up to her. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"Alain told me once that it was you who funded the experiment that created Zwei and myself," Amber told him. "Why is it that you hunt us? Do you view us as a mistake to be eliminated?"

"To be perfectly honest, I never intended Dr. Fuji to create you, Ms. Amber," Lysandre admitted. "I only wanted him to create a Mewtwo in order to test out one of the synthetic Mega Stones I had created. After I did find out about your existed I merely wanted to contain you and Zwei to prevent you from causing any unnecessary harm to the world. But after much reflection, I've decided to change my plans regarding you. I would like you to join my organization."

"Wait, what?" a surprised Malva exclaimed.

"Lysandre! You can't be serious!" Alain responded as he got back to his feet.

"No kidding!" Mairin agreed as she finally emerged from the bush.

"Why do you suddenly want Amber to join your group?" Zwei asked.

"Because I can see that trying to contain you is an unproductive use of my time," Lysandre answered. "Clearly Alain is incapable of defeating you. And it occurred to me recently that you and I may be after the same thing."

"What do you mean?" Amber asked.

"You wish to create a better world, as do I," Lysandre explained. "I believe that if we work together, we can easily create the utopia that we both seek."

"And just what sort of new world do you wish to create?" Amber asked.

"If you and Zwei will join me in my office, I'd be glad to explain to you what it is I'm after," Lysandre offered as he waved his hand towards the lab building.

After a moment, Amber headed towards the lad with Zwei following close behind her. Xerosic went with them to escort them to Lysandre's office.

"Lysandre!" Alain spoke just as the redhead was about to head into the building. "Are you certain that Amber Drei might be able to help us create the better world you've been trying to make? From what I've seen, she seems only capable of destruction."

"Alain, you're about to learn that in order to create something new, you must first destroy something old," Lysandre told him, and with that he continued towards the lab building.

* * *

Amber was sitting in a chair in front of Lysandre's desk with Zwei standing behind her. Lysandre meanwhile was busy pouring two glasses of red wine for them both.

"I suppose there are many things about this world that you've yet to experience, considering you've actually only been alive for a few months," Lysandre remarked as he finished pouring the glasses. "An alcoholic beverage like wine is probably one of them."

"I have yet to try anything like that," Amber admitted.

"Then this should be a unique experience for you," Lysander responded as he handed her a glass before leaning against the edge of his desk. "This is some of the finest wine in the Kalos Region."

Amber took a small sip from the glass and flinched slightly as the bitter liquid burned a trail down her throat. "Not what I had expected."

"It is something of an acquired taste," Lysander replied.

"Like coffee was," Amber observed.

"Well, well. You've experience more of this world than I thought," Lysandre remarked.

"Amber and I didn't come here to share our experiences of the world," Zwei told him with a tone of impatience. "We came here to learn what it is you have planned for it."

Lysandre set his glass down and turned towards the window. "There was a time long ago when I would use my knowledge to help the people of this world, to make their lives better. I would go to places that had been devastated by disaster and conflict and do whatever I could to help the people there rebuild their lives. But rather than use the gifts I would give them to put their lives back together with their own strength, they simply became dependent on my assistance, expecting me to take care of them like they were spoiled children. It was at that point when I began to realize that the people of this world are selfish and greedy… not a people worth helping or saving."

"So you intend to simply destroy them?" Amber asked.

"And why not?" Lysandre responded as he turned back to face her. "This world had been made ugly by decadence and corruption! When a forest has died, the only solution is to burn it away so that a new and more beautiful forest can grow in its place! I will be the one to burn that forest down!"

"You intend to annihilate the human race?" Amber asked.

"Not at all. The uncorrupt, such as those who have joined my cause, they shall survive," Lysandre answered. "But the rest will be wiped away. Amber, I know that the reason you want to change the world is because of the way artificial Pokemon are abused. That abuse is but a small part of the inequality that exists throughout the world, but in my world, the beautiful world I plan to create, all shall be equal! It will be free of all greed and strife, and I want _you_ to be a part of it! What do you say?"

After a moment, Amber put her glass down on the table next to her chair. "Very well. I find I'm curious to see what this new world of yours is like."

* * *

It was mid morning as Alain stood outside the lab building, looking at the damaged yard and the street that had been a battlefield the previous night. A road crew was already hard at work repairing the damaged street. Alain's mind was still reeling from Lysandre's offer to Amber to join his organization. He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice when Mairin came out of the building and walked up next to him.

"Everything okay?" Mairin asked, getting his attention.

"I'm not sure," Alain answered. "I don't understand how Lysandre could ask Amber to join his cause. Lysandre wants to create a world where there's no greed or conflict, but it seems like Amber lives only to bring destruction. What's even more shocking is that I heard earlier that Amber actually agreed to work with him."

"Well… maybe Mr. Lysandre made Amber realize that the kind of world he's trying to make is the kind of world he actually wants," Mairin suggested. "All this time Amber's been trying to make a world where artificially made Pokemon are treated better. Don't you think they would in the kind of world Lysandre is after?"

"I suppose you're right," Alain admitted. "Still, what use could someone like Amber have in building such a world?"

"Well this is a pleasant surprise," a voice spoke.

Alain and Mairin looked, and standing before them was a dark-haired man wearing a blue-shirt with black slacks and a white lab coat.

"Professor Sycamore!" Alain identified. "What're you doing here?"

"Well, I just got back from a research expedition this morning and decided to come by here to check out these Mewtwo sightings I've been hearing about," Professor Sycamore answered as he approached. "What I didn't expect though was to see Lysandre Labs in such a damaged state. Do you know what happened here?"

"Well… it's a little complicated to explain," Alain spoke as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Professor! This is truly an unexpected delight," another voice spoke. The three looked to see Lysandre had emerged from the building. "I trust your research expedition went well."

"It did. What happened to your building?" Professor Sycamore asked.

"Oh… just a malfunction with a new piece of equipment we were testing. No cause for alarm," Lysandre told him. "Thankfully, no one was hurt. So Professor, to what do I owe your visit?"

"I came by to investigate the reports of Mewtwo sightings in the area," the professor answered.

"Ah yes. Well, I don't know how the rumors of those sightings got started, but I'm afraid you'll find nothing here," Lysandre told him. "You're of course more than welcome to look around, but I can assure you that you came all this way for nothing. Now if you'll excuse me, I have quite a bit of work to take care of."

With that, Lysandre headed back towards the building. Professor Sycamore watched him with a suspicious gaze as he left.

"Alain, I know you think very highly about Lysandre, but there's something about him I just don't trust," Professor Sycamore told him. "In fact I'm certain that he was trying to hide something from me just now. Do you have any idea what that something might be?"

"…No," Alain lied. "No idea at all."

"Well… okay then," Professor Sycamore replied. "I should be getting back to the lab. I hope to see you again soon."

With that, the professor walked off towards the direction of his lab. Alain and Mairin both watched him go.

"Alain, do you think it was okay to lie to Professor Sycamore like that?" Mairin asked.

"The professor simply wouldn't understand what Lysandre is doing," Alain answered. "Honestly, I don't really understand either right now. But I'm still certain that Lysandre is acting in the best interest of the world. I don't know why he hired on Amber to assist him, but I have total faith that he's acting for the greater good."

* * *

Mairin was on her way back into the lab building when she saw an open door to her left in one of the corridors. The room seemed to lead down to the basement level of the labs, and she noticed that a dim green light was streaming up from the corridor. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, Mairin decided to investigate what was behind the door. The redhead saw that there was definitely a green light coming from the room down at the end of the steps. Within moments, Mairin reached the bottom of the steps, and in the room behind she saw a large cylindrical tank filled with an odd liquid that bathed everything in a green glow.

Upon hearing voices coming from inside the room, Mairin quickly ducked behind the corner of the door to hide. She was fairly certain that she wasn't even supposed to be there and didn't wish to get caught. In moments she found that the voices were of Xerosic and some lab technicians wearing red goggles. Mairin then soon noticed that there was something inside the tank. There were five green blob-like creatures resting at the tank's bottom in a circle.

Each creature had a large round head with a small beak-like snout and a large left eye. The heads also each had a small white circle that seemed to be a right eye that had never fully developed. The body of each of the five creatures ended with a hook-like tail, and in the center of each one's torso was a red hexagon that was reminiscent of a cell's nucleus. Mairin couldn't figure out what the creatures were, but it seemed like they were all asleep.

"What're you doing?" a voice spoke, causing Mairin to let out a startled cry. Mairin looked up to see Amber standing above her.

"Uh… hi Amber," Mairin responded in a nervous whisper. "I, uh… got lost looking for the bathroom?"

"That is a very unconvincing lie," Amber told. "More likely you came here because you were curious, which is the same reason why I am here."

"Um… you're not gonna tell anyone about me coming down here, are you?" Mairin asked.

Suddenly they both heard footsteps at the top of the steps. Someone was coming.

"It's safe to assume that Lysandre and his men wouldn't want you down here," Amber assumed. "There for it would be best if you left."

Amber waved her hand, and Mairin let out a startled gasp as she vanished with a flash of blue light. The green-haired clone turned her attention back to the footsteps and saw Lysandre coming down towards her.

"Ms. Amber. You should know that this is a restricted area," Lysandre told her.

"If this room has something to do with your plan to reshape the world, shouldn't I be informed of it?" Amber asked. "Or are we not truly working together like you said we are?"

Lysandre chuckled. "Fair enough. I suppose there's no harm in you knowing about this now. Very well. Come with me."

Amber followed Lysandre through the door into the lab. Once inside, she got a good look at the creatures inside the tank.

"Xerosic! How soon will we be ready to begin?" Lysandre asked.

"The device is now fully charged thanks to last night's battle between Ms. Amber and young Mr. Alain," Xerosic reported. "We just need to finish a few final calibrations. In half an hour, Project Z will be ready to launch."

"Project Z?" Amber asked.

"Yes. Project Z, as in Zygarde," Lysandre answered as he turned to face her. "Have you heard of that Pokemon?"

"Dr. Fuji essentially programed me with an encyclopedic knowledge of all know Pokemon," Amber answered. "As I recall, Zygarde is said to be a legendary protector of the Kalos Region."

"Yes. But it is only until very recently that Zygarde's true nature has been uncovered," Lysandre revealed. "Zygarde is not one creature, but a conglomeration of many; made up of hundred of organisms resembling single-celled life forms."

"And the creatures in that tank are five of those cells?" Amber deduced.

"More than that. These are Zygarde's cores," Lysandre explained. "To put it simply, they act as Zygarde's brain. The other cells are scattered and hidden all throughout Kalos, transmitting everything they see and hear back to the cores like surveillance cameras. Originally each Zygarde core was in a different remote location around the region. If any of the cells detected something perceived to be a threat the environment, the core for that area would gather the surrounding cells and assemble into a form of Zygarde that could easily eliminate that threat. In short, Zygarde is a living environmental defense system."

"Then I take it you've determined a way to take control of this system so you can use it to reshape Kalos and the rest of the world," Amber assumed.

"Precisely. My people and I managed to reconfigure the remains of an ancient weapon we found years ago into a device that will allow me to control the cores, and thus control Zygarde," Lysandre revealed. "It's powered by the energy generated by Mega Evolution, including the energy produced by you and Zwei. By the way, I should thank you for your contributions to the project during these past few months. Your battle with Alain late last night helped to put us over the top."

"If you have the means to control Zygarde, what possible use could Zwei and I be to your plans?" Amber asked.

"You can simply help us speed things up just a bit," Lysandre answered. "With both your power and Zygarde's, creating my utopia should only take half as long as originally planned."

"Sir! Calibrations will now be complete in twenty minutes," Xerosic reported.

"Excellent!" Lysandre declared. "Very soon, we shall begin the dawn of a new age."

* * *

Amber had teleported Mairin onto the roof of the lab building, where she quickly found Alain. Mairin immediately told Alain about everything that had happened down in the basement lab.

"…What I can't figure out is what those Pokemon in the tank were supposed to be," Mairin spoke as she finished her story. "Or what Mr. Lysandre's people were doing with them. Do you know anything about it, Alain?"

"This is the first I've heard of Lysandre keeping anything like that down in the basement," Alain admitted. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, but maybe I should ask him about it later."

"You would be wise to mind your own business, Alain," a voice spoke. Alain and Mairin looked to see Malva approaching them. "That part of Lysandre's work doesn't concern you. Then again, I guess it doesn't make any difference whether you find out or not. From what I've heard, Lysandre should be starting any minute now."

"Starting what exactly?" Alain asked.

"Why his master plan to create a new world, of course," Malva answered.

"And how much do you know about it?" Alain asked.

"About as much as you, really," Malva admitted. "Even I'm not allowed down into that lab your little friend was talking about. The only ones admitted down there are Lysandre, his top scientists… and now Amber, from what I've heard."

"Ms. Malva, does Lysandre getting Amber to join him bother you too?" Mairin asked.

"Well, it did come out of left field, that's for sure," Malva answered. "But I'm sure he had his reasons. I have total faith in him and the world he's trying to create."

Suddenly the ground began to rumble. A few moments later, the yard out behind the lab building opened up to reveal some sort of hanger underneath. Rising out of it was a large and long black top-like object with four flat sides, each with a long rectangular multicolored fitted into it. Alain and the others saw Lysander standing atop a platform on the front of the ship, with Amber and Xerosic standing behind him. The redhead had on a pair of glowing red goggles, and a pack on his back with three thin mechanical tentacles, each ending with some sort of camera-like device that had a glowing blue eye. Covering Lysandre's right wrist was some sort of brown almost beetle-like gauntlet.

"What's going on?" a stunned Mairin asked.

Suddenly a circular hole opened up in the roof a few feet from where Alain and the others were standing. The trio watched as the tank containing the five Zygarde cores rose out of the opening.

"Let the new world begin," Lysandre spoke as he pressed a button on his gauntlet.

A bolt of red lightning shot from the tip of Lysandre's flying machine and struck the tank with the cores. The green liquid inside the tank turned red, and suddenly the eyes of all five cores snapped open. The tank shattered and several green lights suddenly shot up from everywhere and struck the spot where the cores were. Alain and the others watched in awe as the lights formed into a shape that became larger and larger. In a matter of seconds, the shape formed into a massive creature that hovered above the building.

The entity had a humanoid body with a height of over fourteen feet. It was mainly black in color, and from its rear grew a long flat tail with red hexagonal segments at the end. Several flew protrusions grew around the creature's head and neck, making it look as though it were wearing a crown. On its forehead was a white hexagon with a line through it, while two more white hexagons appeared to act as its eyes. Red hexagonal segments covered the lower half of its face like a faceplate. A pair of streamer-like wings hung from each shoulder, with lines of silver hexagonal segments decorating the middle of the wings on the right shoulder and gold segments decorating the left. Each arm of the creature ended with a set of three white hexagonal claws with red hexagons decorating the wrist, while the toe of both feet had a single white claw with more red hexagons underneath it. A line of red hexagons decorated its abdomen, and on its large chest was a zigzagging line of multicolored light underneath two lines of red hexagons similar to eyes.

"What the hell is that thing?" a startled Malva asked.

Mairin quickly got out her Pokedex to try and identify the giant Pokemon.

"Zygarde: The Order Pokemon," the Pokedex identified. "Zygarde is said to be able to take different forms to combat threats to the ecosystem. The current form seen here is said to be Zygarde's perfect form. The opening on its chest is speculated to generate an energy force that can destroy everything in its path."

Zygarde hovered away from the building and softly landed on the still broken street out front. Suddenly the glowing mouth on its chest opened up and fired a massive ray of multicolored light through the air towards a skyscraper in the distance. Upon being struck, the skyscraper caught fire and crumbled into a mass of flaming debris while a red line in the shape of a giant Z appeared in the ground around it. Alain, Mairin and Malva were all horrified by what they had just witness.

"Dear god!" Malva spoke as she covered her mouth.

Suddenly Lysandre's face appeared on the giant T.V. screen on the sides of one of the nearby buildings. _"I speak to the people of the world! Many of you may know me as Lysandre, and today I officially reveal myself as the leader of the organization known as Team Flare! Though many of you view us as criminals, the goal of our organization has always been to create a better world, and today we are about to achieve that goal! I now have full control over the Legendary Pokemon known as Zygarde, and I am going to use its power to burn this current world to ash!_

 _"Some of you watching me may think my methods evil, but they are in fact necessary! The world has become ugly and polluted, and must be cleansed in order to bring forth a world of true beauty! This day the wicked shall parish and the meek shall inherit the earth! Prepare yourselves, for a new golden age is about to begin!"_

With that, Lysandre's face vanished from the screen. Zygarde then began to lumber through the city, crushing anything to come in its path.

"This… this can't be happening!" a horrified Alain spoke. "How could Lysandre do something like this?"

"Ms. Amber, if you would be so kind as to send out your Mewtwo, we can get this work done a lot faster," Lysandre spoke.

Amber nodded and tossed out a pokeball. "Go Zwei!"

Zwei burst out of the ball and paused for a moment when she saw Zygarde lumbering through the city.

"Finally! My dream is now becoming reality," Lysandre spoke.

"It's a pity that we'll have to eliminate all Pokemon in order to create a new world," Xerosic remarked. "Think of all the scientific knowledge they could've provided us with."

"Is that so?" Amber spoke. "Zwei! Attack with Ice Beam!"

Zwei nodded and fired a bolt of white light from between her hands through the air. The beam struck Zygarde in the back and caused a large patch of ice to form between its shoulders. The beast managed to shatter the ice by flexing its back, and then turned around to face Zwei.

"Xerosic, you fool!" Lysandre shouted.

"I-I'm sorry, sir!" Xerosic responded.

Amber levitated into the air and hovered to look down at Lysandre. "You never mentioned that you planned to cleanse Pokemon from the world, including those made by artificial means. You probably planned to eliminate Zwei and myself as well once we outlived our usefulness to our plans."

"Amber, please understand. Pokemon only serve to create the conflict that I'm trying to extinguish," Lysandre told her. "If I spared all Pokemon, they would only continue to be used as weapons of war or prizes to be fought over. If that source of conflict remained, the beautiful world I'm trying to create would only become as ugly as this one over time. But for you and the Pokemon like you, I planned to make an exception!"

"You lied to us before, and you're clearly lying to us now," Zwei told him. "You probably decided to have us join your cause because you thought it would be easier than trying to eliminate us."

"To be perfectly honest Lysandre I never seriously intended to join you in the first place," Amber admitted. "I was simply curious to see what your plan for making a new world involved. Now that I know, I'm going to put a stop to it. I find your methods to be too extreme. The world must changed, but the human race simply needs to be conquered, not destroyed."

After a moment, Lysandre smirked. "You're welcome to try and stop me if you wish, but you'll only fail in the end. Now that I have Zygarde under my control, no force on earth can defeat me!"

"Your arrogance shall be your undoing," Amber declared. "The gods of this world have fallen before Zwei and I, and Zygarde shall be no different. Your new world ends right now."

TO BE CONTINUED

* * *

 **Author's Note:** As those of you reading have guessed, I'm using this story to wrap up what I started with Team Flare in _Mewtwo Zwei_. I guess I should've done a bigger story with this particular evil organization, but I felt like I couldn't muster either the time or the enthusiasm to do a major story with Team Flare with everything I already have going with this AU and everything else I want to get going with it. Anyway, I decided to do what the anime did and have Lysandre use Zygarde as his ultimate weapon, mainly because I find Zygarde to be a very interesting Pokemon and a challenging opponent for Amber and Zwei. Plus Xerneas didn't seem that menacing an enemy, and as for Yveltal... I honestly don't know how Amber and Zwei could be able to beat that bird. For one thing they'd have a serious type disadvantage, then there's the fact that everything hit by that bird's death ray is instantly petrified.

Our next installment of this project will be the conclusion of the battle against Lysandre and Zygarde. After that, we'll be getting into our "collection's" finale. So until then, stay tuned.

In the meantime, please review and let me know what you think.


	8. Project Z, Part 2

**Author's Note:** There seems to have been a little misunderstanding regarding my last author's note. This story is not the finale to this little "one-shot collection" I've been doing. There's going to be one more story after this one, and that story will probably be a two-parter as well. Until then, please enjoy the battle against Zygarde.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon.

* * *

Project Z, Part 2

"So now Amber and Zwei have turned against Lysandre?" Mairin asked. "I can't tell if this is good or bad."

"One thing's for sure. This whole situation has gotten totally out of control!" Malva declared. "The whole city could be destroyed by Zwei and Zygarde's battle."

"So then what do we do?" Mairin asked.

"We need to get aboard Lysandre's ship and disable whatever he's using to control Zygarde," Malva answered.

"But how are we supposed to do that?" Alain asked.

Suddenly the three of them were enveloped in an almost blinding blue light. In moments the light faded, and Alain and the others found that they were on the platform of Lysandre's ship.

Lysandre quickly noticed their arrival. "So, it seems that our Ms. Amber is trying to enlist your help."

"Alain! It might make things easier for Zwei and myself if Lysandre's attention was divided!" Amber called. "I'll leave him to you!"

With that, Amber and Zwei flew further into the city away from the ship. Zygarde lumbered after them, crushing everything in its path.

"Lysandre… I don't understand any of this!" Alain told him. "You said that you wanted to create a better world!"

"And I am!" Lysandre declared. "I told you last night that destruction is often necessary for creation!"

"But this is going too far!" Alain responded. "All those lives that were just lost from Zygarde's attack… how can anything like that lead to a better world?"

"Do you feel the same way, Malva?" Lysandre asked.

"I do, Lysandre. If I had known that you had planned something like this… I had no idea you could be so heartless!" Malva told him as tears came to her eyes. "The idea that the man I… well, I guess now I see you for who you truly are. I can't be a part of this world you're trying to make."

"Then you can die with the rest of the world," Lysandre told her.

"Malva, you and Mairin take care to trying to shut down Lysandre's control device," Alain told her.

Malva nodded before wiping her eyes and turned to Mairin. "Let's go kid! We've got a job to do.

Mairin nodded, and the two of them ran off down the metal deck that attached to the platform and went all around that section of the ship.

"You know Alain, all this wouldn't have been possible without your help," Lysandre told him. "After all, you did help to charge the machine I'm using to control Zygarde."

"Then it is time that I atone for that," Alain spoke before tossing out a pokeball. "Go Charizard!"

Charizard burst out of the ball and roared at Lysandre.

"So be it," Lysandre responded as he produced his own pokeball. "Go Gyarados!"

Bursting out of Lysandre's thrown ball with a sparkling flash was a large red sea serpent resembling a Chinese dragon. It had green eyes and a large dark-red three-pointed crest on its forehead. Yellow spots traveled down the sides of its body, and it had a large gaping mouth with yellow lips and four small white fangs. Dark-red whiskers grew from the sides of its mouth and two large white fins on the sides of its head. Around its neck was a black metal collar containing a red, yellow and blue stone.

"Attack with Dark Pulse!" Lysandre commanded.

The stone in Gyarados's collar lit up, and suddenly it became enveloped in a blinding red light, which quickly faded to reveal Gyarados in a new form, and a multicolored DNA helix briefly shined above its head. The sea serpent's body had become bulkier and the crest on its forehead became much larger. The fins and whiskers on its head had become longer, and a long spike grew from the underside of its chin. The yellow spots that had originally run down the sides of the sea serpent's body had changed into raised dark-red scales. Growing from its back were two large white fins almost like the hood of a cobra.

As soon as it had finished transforming, Gyarados fired rings made of black energy from its mouth. The barrage struck Charizard in the chest, but the fire dragon was relatively unharmed.

"Charizard! Fight back with Thunder Punch!" Alain ordered.

Alain's keystone and Charizard's Mega Stone both lit up, and soon Charizard's body gave off a blinding flash of blue light in the shape of an X. In moments the light faded to reveal Charizard's mega form. The black dragon flew in close and struck Gyarados in the forehead with an electrified punch. Gyarados withstood the attack and roared at Charizard.

"Impressive as always!" Lysandre praised. "I think I'm going to enjoy this battle."

* * *

Amber and Zwei kept flying until they reached a large park near the center of the city. Zygarde was still fairly close behind them despite its slow pace. The duo landed in the park, after which Amber tossed out the pokeballs containing Mugen and Galatea. The chimera and mechanical Pokemon burst out and looked expectantly at Amber.

"So we're taking the battle here?" Zwei asked as she looked around the park.

"I thought this battlefield's large size would allow us to minimize the collateral damage," Amber explained.

"And they are to help as well?" Zwei asked, looking at Galatea and Mugen. "You're actually concerned that we can't defeat this opponent on our own?"

"We are not unbeatable, Zwei. Our encounter with Bianca taught us that," Amber pointed out as she touched her left shoulder, remembering her previous injury. "And Zygarde is said to be incredibly powerful. We'll need the added power of Mugen and Galatea to help bring it down."

 _'I'll do whatever I can to help, Ms. Amber,'_ Galatea's child-like voice spoke in Amber's head.

 _'Whatever opponent we're up against, I'll rip it to shreds myself!'_ Mugen's gruff voice declared.

"I admire your enthusiasm," Zwei told Mugen.

With a wave of Amber's hand, a pink disc flew out of her long coat towards Mugen. The port on the side of the chimera's head opened up and the disc flew into it. Afterwards the port closed up, and Mugen's eyes turned a light pink, as did the spikes on the back of his head crest and the membrane of his tailfin.

"I've loaded Mugen with the Fairy Memory, which should give him immunity from Zygarde's Dragon-Type attacks," Amber spoke. "Now here is the plan. Zwei and I will attack Zygarde from the air, while Mugen will attack him from the ground. Galatea, I will move you to a spot hidden from Zygarde's sight, where you can charge up and launch long-range attacks at it. Do you understand?"

 _'I'll do my best!'_ Galatea enthusiastically responded.

"Zwei and I will relay commands telepathically," Amber told them. "Now let us proceed!"

With another wave of Amber's hand, Galatea vanished with a flash of blue light and teleported to the branch of a tree. Soon after, Zygarde finally entered the park. Amber and Zwei took back off into the air. When they got high enough, Amber's keystone lit up along with Zwei's Mega Stone, and a second later Zwei's body gave off a blinding purple flash in the shape of a Y. The light soon faded to reveal Zwei in her Mega form.

The psychic feline then fired a beam of white electricity from between her hands that struck Zygarde in the chest, causing a large patch of ice to form where it struck. Down on the ground, Mugen fired a similar beam of energy from his jaws that struck Zygarde on the stomach and created another patch of ice there. Zygarde flexed its body and shattered the ice. It then turned its head to look down at Mugen and stomped its right foot into the ground. A wave of earth rose from the spot that Zygarde stomped on and came right towards Mugen.

Mugen jumped to the left and managed to avoid the attack, and then charged towards the beast at top speed. As the chimera came in close, his body began to crackle with pink electricity. Mugen then rammed into Zygarde's right shin with all his strength as his body gave off a brilliant pink flash. The impact caused Zygarde to stagger back to whole steps. Soon after from the trees, Galatea fired two beams of pink light from her eyes that struck Zygarde in the right shoulder, nearly causing the humanoid dragon to topple over.

Zwei fired another Ice Beam attack that struck Zygarde in the face, while at the same time Mugen fired an Ice Beam of his own that hit the beast's right waist. After a moment, Zygarde shattered the new ice that had formed on its body and fired a powerful blast of multicolored light from its chest up at Zwei and Amber. The duo quickly flew out of the beams path and managed to avoid getting hit. Zygarde then turned its attention back to Mugen and fired another blast from its chest. The beam hit Mugen and created a large glowing red Z on the ground around the chimera, but when the attack ended, Mugen was totally unharmed.

Before Zygarde could launch another attack, Zwei formed a ball of purple energy four times her size in front of herself and launched it at the dragon. Zygarde was hit in the chest by the attack, causing a massive explosion of light. When the light faded and the smoke cleared though, Zygarde seemed damaged but was still standing.

"Zygarde has much more stamina than we thought," Zwei and Amber spoke. "This is going to be a very long battle."

* * *

Mairin and Malva made it into what seemed to be some sort of engine room. At the very center was a gigantic scarlet crystal that bathed the giant room in a red light.

"So if we break that big crystal, will Lysandre lose control of Zygarde?" Mairin asked.

"There's only one way to find out," Malva answered as she took out a pokeball.

"Not so fast!" a voice spoke. Mairin and Malva saw Xerosic emerge from a dark corner of the room. "Did you not think I wouldn't know where you were going when I saw you run into the ship?"

"Well, you being here confirms we were right," Malva declared with a smirk. "That crystal really is how Lysandre is controlling Zygarde."

"That's right, and I can't let you destroy it!" Xerosic told her. "Not after all of the work I've put into it!"

"Then I guess we'll do this the hard way," Malva decided as she threw the pokeball she had just pulled out. "Go Delphox!"

Bursting out of the ball was a tall bipedal fox covered in thick dark-red fur resembling a robe. This robe of fur had orange flame-shaped patched near the beast's knees, and a large white patch on the stomach. Its head was covered mostly in yellow fur that grew down to cover its chest and shoulders, with giant tufts of red-orange fur like flames growing from its large ears. Thick dark-red fur covered its arms, and it had a tail covered in thick yellow fur. Its hands and feet were dark-grey, and in its right hand it carried a wooden stick like a wand with a flame burning at the top.

"Okay you pasty weirdo, let's rumble!" Malva spoke.

* * *

During this whole time, Alain and Lysandre's battle continued on the ship's platform. Charizard had taken quite a bit of damage from Gyarados's attacks, but showed no signs of going down any time soon. Gyarados on the other hand seemed to be on his last legs.

"Gyarados, attack with Dragon Tail!" Lysandre commanded.

"Dodge and use Thunder Punch once more!" Alain ordered.

Gyarados roared before flipping through the air as his tail began to glow with a green light. Charizard took off to the right to avoid the attack, causing Gyarados to strick the platform floor. The black dragon then got above the Gyarados and struck the sea serpent in the back of the head with another electrified punch. Gyarados collapsed and reverted back to his original form. Charizard returned to his original form and roared with triumph as he breathed a stream of flames into the air.

"Well done," Lysandre praised as he called Gyarados back to his ball. "But this changes nothing! Zygarde is still under my control! And not even the likes of Amber Drei and her Mewtwo can stop me!"

* * *

"Delphox! Finish off Xerosic's Crobat!" Malva commanded. "Mystical Fire!"

Delphox used its flaming want to draw a large circle of fire in front of itself. The fox mystic then breathed out a massive stream of flames through the ring at its opponent, a large purple bat with four green wings known as a Crobat. Crobat was completely enveloped by the flames. When the attack ended, the bat dropped to the ground unconscious. Xerosic turned even paler upon having his last Pokemon defeated.

"Now out of our way!" Malva told the scientist. "Use Psychic!"

Delphox's eyes glowed purple, and suddenly Xerosic and the unconscious Crobat glowed with a feint purple aura as they were suddenly lifted into the air and flung hard into the wall. The impact knocked Xerosic out cold.

"Whoa!" an impressed Mairin spoke. "I can't believe you finished him off so quickly."

"Well, I am a member of the Kalos Elite Four, you know," Malva reminded her. "Now Delphox! Use Psybeam to shatter that crystal!"

Delphox cried out as it fired beams of purple light from its eyes at the red crystal. The crystal cracked a bit upon being struck, and within a few seconds the beams caused a large chunk of the crystal to shatter apart. Soon after, the crystal stopped glowing and turned a dull grey.

"Looks like we were able to break it," Malva observed with a sigh of relief. "Now this madness will hopefully come to an end."

* * *

A yellow news chopper was in the sky above the park as Amber and her three Pokemon continued their battle against Zygarde. Suddenly Zygarde paused and the red parts of its body turned green. The markings on the wings hanging from its right shoulder had become blue, while the markings of the wings on its left shoulder turned red. Amber and the others paused, wondering if the battle was over. Suddenly Zygarde fired another beam from its chest up at Amber and Zwei. The duo managed to fly out of the way at the last second and avoided getting hit.

"Do you still fight because you're merely confused, or do you fight us because you consider us a threat to your ecosystem?" Amber and Zwei asked Zygarde together. "It wouldn't surprise us if you considered us a threat because we were not born by natural means. Either way it doesn't matter. This battle has gone too far to end now!"

With that, Zwei fired another Ice Beam from her hands that struck Zygarde in the chest. At the same time, Mugen fired another Ice Beam that struck Zygarde on the right knee. Zygarde once again shattered the ice that had formed on its body and started to glow with a brilliant green light. Suddenly beams of green light shot up from the ground where Mugen was standing and the earth shattered apart beneath him. The lights faded and Mugen was out cold.

"Now Galatea! Fleur Cannon!" Amber and Zwei commanded.

The end of Galatea's right arm transformed into a cannon, and she fired an intense beam of pink energy from her tree up at Zygarde. The attack struck Zygarde in the right side of its chest and caused it to stagger back five steps. Zygard recovered though and once again glowed with a brilliant emerald light. Green lights then began to shoot up from the ground under Galatea's tree, and suddenly the ground shattered and the tree toppled over. Galatea was knocked out of the tree and hit the ground, totally unconscious.

Amber telekinetically deployed the pokeballs for her two fallen Pokemon and called them back in. Soon after the balls returned to Amber's hands, Zygarde fired another blast of energy from her chest. This time Zwei took the attack head on. A large Z of green light formed from the resulting explosion. Amber felt the full force of the attack due to her link to Zwei and was nearly knocked out of the sky. When the smoke cleared from the explosion though, both Amber and Zwei were still in the air.

"We're not… going to fall to you!" Zwei and Amber declared together.

Suddenly Amber's keystone began to glow with a strange gold light. Both Amber and Zwei called out, and suddenly Amber's body began to shin with a brilliant gold light and her hair turned from green to a shimmering gold. At the same time, Zwei's body turned gold as well and small bolts of crackling blue electricity sparked around her. Zwei spreak her arms and a ball of gold energy that was eight times her size formed in front of her.

"Psystrike!" Zwei and Amber called out as the feline launched the ball at Zygarde.

The sphere struck Zygarde and caused a massive explosion of white light. The shockwave from the blast nearly knocked the yellow news chopper that had been filming most of the battle out of the sky. After a few moments, the light from the explosion finally faded. Zwei and Amber had returned to normal and were still floating in the air breathing heavily; both their brows covered in sweat. Meanwhile the smoke cleared to reveal that Zygarde was still standing.

After a moment though, green lights began to drip from Zygarde's body, and in seconds parts of the humanoid dragon's body seemed to be falling apart. It seemed that the cell creatures that made up Zygarde's body could no longer hold together. Amber and Zwei watched as Zygarde slowly faded to nothing and the green lights falling from it vanished into the ground. Within a few more moments, Zygarde was totally gone.

* * *

Not far away, Lysandre's ship had since moved closer to the park where the battle had been taking place. Both Lysandre and Alain had seen the finishing blow that Zwei had inflicted. Malva and Mairin had also since returned and had seen the final attack.

"No… NO!" Lysandre shouted. "This isn't what was supposed to happen! Nothing should've been able to defeat Zygarde or break my control over it!"

"It's over, Lysandre," Alain told him.

"…No it isn't. My vision of a beautiful world will still come to pass," Lysandre declared as he pressed a button on his gauntlet.

Suddenly the bottom of Lysandre's ship opened up like a flower. Inside was a large black cannon with a long barrel that had glowing lines of multicolored light running up the sides. The cannon rotated upward and took aim at Amber and Zwei.

"Even without Zygarde, I still have the power to remake this world!" Lysandre declared. "And I'm going to start by wiping out that wretched clone girl and her Mewtwo off the face of it!"

Lysandre pressed another button on his gauntlet, and a ball of multicolored light began to form at the end of the cannon's barrel. Both Amber and Zwei noticed the cannon charging up. Amber snapped her fingers, and suddenly Alain, Mairin and Malva vanished from the ship with a flash of blue light, reappearing seconds later down in the park. The blast forming at the end of the cannon continued to get larger, and suddenly Zwei launched another Psystike attack at the ship. The attack struck the cannon, and suddenly the entire ship exploded into a massive fireball.

"My god!" a horrified Alain spoke.

Zwei finally returned to her original form, and both she and Amber landed on the ground a few feet from where Alain and the others were.

"How could you?" Alain shouted at them.

"Lysandre was going to destroy us," Amber told him. "We had no choice but to eliminate him."

"Couldn't you have found a better way?" Alain asked. "What Lysandre did was evil, but… but still…"

"You admired him a great deal, didn't you Alain?" Amber realized. "His actions must've been a great betrayal to you. I can understand how you feel, you know. I felt deeply betrayed when I found out that Dr. Fuji thought of me only as an experiment, that I wasn't his real daughter but a clone."

Alain clenched his fists at his sides. "I want to know one thing now, Amber. Do you still intend to try and conquer the world?"

"Of course we do," Zwei answered. "Nothing has changed our ultimate goal."

"Then I'll stop you!" Alain declared. "This may have started out only as a mission given to me by Lysandre, but I've now truly seen just how dangerous you both are! I'm not going to let you roam free!"

"You're welcome to keep coming after us, Alain," Amber told him. "I look forward to our next encounter."

With that, Amber and Zwei vanished with a flash of blue light. Soon after the duo teleported away, Mairin glanced back and saw a man standing a few feet away. He was extremely tall with very long unkempt white hair, wearing an orange ski cap with a long green scarf, a tattered black jacket, a grey sweater, and blue jeans with black boots. He had a pair of fingerless black gloves on his hands. A large black pack was on his back, and a strange gold key hung from his neck by a chain.

Mairin went over to the man out of concern and curiosity. The man had a look of what seemed like total amazement on his face. He was looking at the spot where Zwei and Amber had vanished.

"Mr., are you okay?" Mairin asked. "Were you here for that whole battle?"

The homeless man didn't look at Mairin and kept staring at the spot where Amber and Zwei had been. "That Pokemon and its trainer… I've never seen anything like them before. Such power… only the strength of the Delta could hope to defeat them."

"Huh?" Mairin responded.

"Not my concern though," the homeless man continued as he turned around and started to walk off. "They destroyed my old weapon. That's what matters now. Maybe now you'll finally come back to me… won't you Floette?"

Mairin continued to watch as the homeless man walked away and vanished into the trees. She couldn't figure out what to make of him.

"Mairin, everything okay?" a voice asked. She turned to look to see Alain standing behind her.

"Uh, yeah. I guess so," Mairin answered. "I was just talking to this weird guy I just saw. I'm a little worried that he might've gotten caught in Amber's battle with Zygarde and hit his head or something. He was talking about some strange stuff. Then again, it didn't look like he was hurt, so…"

"Well… right now we should probably leave," Alain told her. "We need to figure out a plan to capture Amber before she causes any more harm."

"You got it," Mairin replied, and with that they left the park with Malva.

* * *

Amber and Zwei teleported to a small forest a good distance from Lumios City. Both of them were totally exhausted. Amber sat down against a tree and took off her sunglasses to wipe the sweat from her brow.

"That battle really was more difficult than I thought it'd be," Zwei declared. "You were wise to have Galatea and Mugen assist us."

"Zygarde was the most challenging opponent we've faced yet, and we're stronger for defeating it," Amber responded.

"So what now?" Zwei asked.

"Now we get to a Pokemon Center to rest," Amber answered as she got back up. "Mugen and Galatea both need to be tended to, and you as well. Once we're all back at full strength, we'll return to Saffron City and continue to look for Mewtwo Ein there. I'm certain he'll show up there eventually."

* * *

When Alain and the others returned to Lysandre Labs, they found Professor Sycamore waiting for them out front. The professor went into the lab with the trio, where Alain and the others filled them in on everything regarding Amber and Zwei, and on how Lysandre had gained control of Zygarde.

"I just don't believe it," Professor Sycamore spoke after hearing everything. "To think that Lysandre found and hired the scientist that created Mewtwo to repeat his work, and that he had created a human psychic clone as well."

"Lysandre didn't know anything about Dr. Fuji making another clone of his daughter to serve as the second Mewtwo's partner until after she went rogue and destroyed Dr. Fuji's island," Malva informed the professor. "We should still have Dr. Fuji's project logs on record, if you'd like to see them."

"And all of this so Lysandre could test out this synthetic Mega Stone he had created," Professor Sycamore spoke. "Lysandre was a genius, but also a mad man. The events of today have proven that."

"Professor, you should know that I had no idea at all about what Lysandre was planning with Zygarde," Alain told him.

"I know that Alain, and it doesn't really matter," Professor Sycamore replied. "What matters now is tracking down this Amber Drei. From everything you've just told me about her, she and that Mewtwo of hers are just as dangerous as Lysandre was, if not more so."

"They seemed to get stronger during the battle with Zygarde," Alain added. "Just before Zwei launched her final attack on Zygarde, she seemed to turn gold."

"Not only that, Amber's hair turned gold as well," Malva interjected.

"Do you have any idea what caused Amber and Zwei to transform like that?" Mairin asked the professor.

"It's hard to say," Professor Sycamore answered as he put his hand to his chin. "I'm only guessing right now, but it could be that the two of them tapped into a new level of Mega Evolution."

"A new level? Do you really think such a thing is possible?" a surprised Alain asked.

"Well, there's still a bit about Mega Evolution that we don't know yet," Professor Sycamore pointed out. "This is all just theoretical of course, but it could be that the strong bond between Amber and Zwei allowed them to tap into a hidden power."

"Do you think there might be others who could tap into this level of power?" Alain asked.

Professor Sycamore looked Alain in the eye. "It might be possible. Like I said Alain, this is all just theory right now, but it wouldn't surprise me if others could reach this same level of Mega Evolution. It all depends on the bond between the Pokemon and its trainer."

"This is all well and good, but this doesn't get us any closer to figuring out how to catch Amber and Zwei before they try to conquer the world," Malva pointed out.

"Do you have any ideas about that Ms. Malva?" Mairin asked.

"Well… there is one," Malva answered. "Maybe the answer is to fight fire with fire. Come with me."

Malva led Alain and the others into the corridors of the main lab building and took them to a metal door at the end of a hallway with a keypad. The pinkette entered a code into the keypad, causing the door to slide open. Inside the room on a steel pedestal was a metal belt like the one worn by Zwei with a blue stone fitted into the large buckle.

"Another Mega Stone?" Professor Sycamore observed.

"Lysandre made two synthetic Mega Stones, both of which he was sure were compatible with Mewtwo," Malva explained. "He decided to call them Mewtwonite X and Mewtwonite Y. Lysandre gave the Y version to Dr. Fuji for his early experiments. Had Amber and Zwei not gone rogue, Lysandre probably would've given the X version of the stone to Dr. Fuji to try out."

"But how is this Mega Stone going to help us stop Amber?" Mairin asked.

"Simple. We give it to the original Mewtwo to use," Malva answered as she turned around to face them.

"Hold on! First of all, we don't even know where to find the original Mewtwo," Alain pointed out. "Let alone whether or not it would actually help us. Second, it would need a trainer to help trigger the power of the stone."

"I may have an idea about where to at least find Mewtwo," Professor Sycamore told them. "A lot of the Mewtwo sightings seem to take place in Saffron City in the Kanto Region or the nearby cities."

"Why would Mewtwo go there?" Mairin asked.

"Wait a sec… the leader of the Saffron City Gym is a psychic, right?" Malva asked.

"Yes, Sabrina. Her psychic abilities are reported to be extremely powerful," Professor Sycamore answered.

A smirk appeared on Malva's face. "Then maybe that's why Mewtwo likes to hang around Saffron City. It must find a human with extreme psychic powers like its own to be very interesting."

"You think Sabrina and the original Mewtwo actually know each other?" Alain asked.

"It's a long shot, but right now it's the only lead we've got," Malva answered. "And if we're right about Sabrina and Mewtwo being friends, than we also have a potential trainer to trigger the Mewtwonite X."

"So then what do you propose we do?" Professor Sycamore asked.

"To start with, I'm going to take this Mewtwonite X and make a trip to Saffron City," Malva answered. "Sabrina and I are going to have a little talk."

THE END

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I hope everyone reading enjoyed this episode. There was certainly a lot going on in it. I had debated with myself about Zwei and Amber's golden transformation during the battle and whether or not to use it. By the way, I'm sure that those of you who've played the X and Y games recognized the homeless guy that Mairin talked to after the battle.

Well, one more story to go before I wrap this up. Next time, Amber and Zwei find out that it's not always a good idea to meet your heroes.

Until then, please review and let me know what you think.


	9. Mewtwo XY, Part 1

**Author's Note:** Well, it's been a long time road (admittedly too long, perhaps), but we're finally at the finale of this oneshot collection that's no longer really a oneshot collection. I had originally planned to have the encounter we're about to see for a separate story, but upon recent reflection I decided that it made a lot more sense to have it happen as the final episode of this story. So here we are, the long-awaited showdown between the original Mewtwo and the new model.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon.

* * *

Mewtwo XY, Part 1

It was in the middle of the night as Dr. Ichiro Fuji awoke in his hospital bed. He had been drifting in and out of consciousness for the past few days, and when he woke up it always took him a few seconds to recall where he was and why he was there. In moments Dr. Fuji remembered that he was at the hospital of his childhood home in Lavender Town, and that he had been brought there to recover from the injuries he had suffered on his island in the Kalos Region; injuries caused by his most recent creations. Months before, Dr. Fuji had repeated and improved upon his greatest experiment. Not only had the scientist made a second version of the Pokemon known as Mewtwo, he had made a human psychic cloned from the DNA of his dead daughter, Amber to act as that Mewtwo's partner.

Just like what happened with the original Mewtwo though, the clone of Amber and Mewtwo Zwei lashed out at Dr. Fuji, injuring him and destroying his island from what he had heard later on. The attack had left the misguided scientist even more crippled than before. He was now a broken shell of a man, almost totally paralyzed and unable to leave his bed. On top of it all though, Dr. Fuji was also now dying. One of the doctors who had been treating him discovered that he had a fatal disease that had advanced far past the point of treatment, and Dr. Fuji found that he was okay with that. Death would be a welcome release from his current condition.

For the past few days, Dr. Fuji had been placed on medication intended to eliminate or at least dull the excruciating pain of his illness, which was why he had been drifting in and out of consciousness. When Dr. Fuji awoke this time, he saw a little old bald man with bushy white eyebrows. He had on a grey suit with a black tie and held a wooden cane in his right hand. This was Dr. Fuji's father and the mayor of Lavender Town, Kagami Fuji.

"Hello father. To what do I owe this visit?" Dr. Fuji asked.

"Your doctor called me a few hours ago while," Mayor Fuji answered. "He told me you don't have much longer to live."

Dr. Fuji let out a cold chuckle. "Is that so? Well then, I suppose you've come to lecture me on what a foolish son I've been during the last few moments of my life."

"I did not come to waste this time rehashing arguments of the past, Ichiro," Mayor Fuji told him. "There is however someone here who wants to have a few words with you."

Suddenly a pair of glowing blue eyes flashed in the darkness of the room behind Mayor Fuji. The beeping of Dr. Fuji's heart monitor increased, signaling his terror. The scientist knew that such eyes could only belong to one type of creature. Dr. Fuji wondered if perhaps he was having some sort of nightmare, yet he was certain he was experiencing reality. Mewtwo Zwei had found him, and he was sure that the angry clone of his daughter was also there in the darkness with her.

"You never expected to see me again, did you?" a male voice asked in Dr. Fuji's head. "Of course I never expected to encounter you again either. I thought you had perished when I destroyed you lab all those years ago."

Upon hearing the voice, Dr. Fuji let out a labored coughing lab. He realized that it was his other experiment that had come to visit him on his deathbed. "Well, well. So the prodigal son returns. How have you been Mewtwo?"

The eyes in the darkness stopped glowing, and moving into the moonlight streaming in from the window was a purplish-grey humanoid feline with a purple stomach and tail. "Has my wellbeing ever truly mattered to you?"

"Of course it has," Dr. Fuji told him. "After all, you were one of my greatest creations. I have to ask, how is it that you know my father?"

"Mewtwo and I met by chance several months ago," Mayor Fuji revealed. "Ever since, he's come to visit me now and again, wanting to hear more about my granddaughter."

"About… Amber?" Dr. Fuji asked.

"I told Mewtwo that Amber was the reason why you created him," Mayor Fuji continued. "And now I think you owe Mewtwo some explanations, Ichiro. It's the least you can do after the way you've treated him."

"And what questions could I possibly answer?" Dr. Fuji asked.

Mewtwo moved closer to the bed. "As the old man told me more about Amber and what she was like, I found that I… remembered her. She died before I was even created, and yet I feel as though I knew her. I want to know how that could be possible, and I think you must have the answer."

"Ah! Of course… you've been remembering the brief time you spent with the first clone I made of my daughter," Dr. Fuji explained. "You see you and 'Ambertwo', as I called her, were in telepathic communication during the early stages of your development. I can't say for sure, but the two of you had probably become very good friends in the dream world where you met."

"Then how come I hardly remember her now?" Mewtwo asked.

"Because I had to suppress your memories of her," Dr. Fuji answered. "You apparently took her death very hard, so much that you nearly died yourself. I couldn't afford to lose you as well, after all."

"No… because I was your greatest creation, as you put it," Mewtwo responded. "Let me ask you one thing. Would you have ever told me about Amber if I had given you the chance?"

"No… probably not," Dr. Fuji admitted. "It would've served no practical purpose."

Mayor Fuji shook his head. "I never imagined that you could ever be so cold, Ichiro. This Pokemon standing before you now, the very Pokemon you created, is a living thing! He deserves to be respected as such! I do not blame Mewtwo for lashing out at you those years ago."

"Yes… I suppose I should've treated this Mewtwo better," Dr. Fuji admitted. "That goes for the second one I created as well."

Mewtwo's eyes widened. "What?"

"Oh, that's right. You had no idea about that," an amused Dr. Fuji realized. "And I never told my father. I didn't want him to give me another lecture like the one he gave me just now. You see I recreated my original experiment, successfully I might add. As a result, there's now a second Mewtwo in the world. You should be pleased."

Mewtwo looked to Mayor Fuji. "You really knew nothing of this?"

"No… not at all!" an equally stunned Mayor Fuji answered. "All Ichiro told me was that the new lab on his island exploded because of a mishandled experiment."

"But I never told you what the experiment was, did I old man?" Dr. Fuji pointed out. Suddenly his body began to spasm and the heart monitor hooked up to him started beeping wildly. "So… it seems… my end has… come!"

"He's dying," Mewtwo realized.

"Before I go… Mewtwo…" Dr. Fuji gasped. "You might… want to know. There is… another… Am."

Before the scientist could finish his last word, his body went limp and his head dropped to the left. The heart monitor connected to him gave off a single steady beep, signaling that Dr. Fuji's life had indeed some to an end.

"Mewtwo… you should go now," Mayor Fuji told him. "You wouldn't want the medical staff here to see you. Besides, I would much like to be alone now. I've just lost my youngest son, you know."

"…Very well, old man," Mewtwo agreed. "There's nothing more I can learn here anyway."

With that, Mewtwo vanished with a flash of blue light. A few seconds later, a doctor and a nurse entered the room to find their patient already dead. Mayor Fuji told them about the last few moments of his son's life, omitting the part Mewtwo played. A few minutes later, Mayor Fuji was on his way out of the hospital.

Just as the old man reached the car that was waiting for him out front, he paused as he suddenly remembered something his soon had said during the conversation with Mewtwo. "First clone? What did he… no… he couldn't have. Oh… Ichiro… my foolish son."

* * *

It was midafternoon as Sabrina left the Saffron City Gym. The green-haired psychic had just defeated her fifth opponent for the day and decided she could use a break. Sabrina was on her way to a new ice cream shop in the city that she had become very fond of when she turned a corner and saw someone standing in her path. The person was a woman with pink hair wearing glasses with a sleeveless black shirt and long red pants with white diamonds running down the sides. Sitting on the ground next to her was a large metal briefcase.

"Sabrina of the Saffron Gym, right?" the pinkette spoke. "I'm Malva of the Kalos Elite Four."

"I know who you are," Sabrina coldly responded. "What do you want?"

"Not here. I'd rather we talk about this somewhere in private," Malva told her. "Why don't we go back to your gym?"

"I'm not going back to the gym until I have my ice cream," Sabrina declared as she walked past her.

"Hey lady! I came a long way to tell you about something that's life and death!" Malva snapped. "Your damn ice cream can wait a few minutes!"

Sabrina turned back and glared at Malva. Suddenly the pinkette and her metal briefcase glowed with a blue aura and were levitated ten feet into the air by an invisible force.

Malva couldn't help but let out a panicked scream. "Okay! Okay! We can talk over ice cream! I'll even pay for the damn stuff! Just please put me down already!"

After a moment, Sabrina gently set Malva and her case back on the ground. "You're getting me the most expensive thing there."

With that, Malva followed Sabrina to the ice cream shop. They quickly ordered, with Malva paying for both items. Soon after they sat down at a table by the window with their orders. Sabrina was eating a giant white chocolate and vanilla Sunday with sprinkles, while Malva had ordered a very small vanilla cone. Malva took the time to carefully look her dining companion over. Sabrina was elegantly dressed in a light-blue blouse with the top two buttons undone, black slacks, and a pair of dark-purple high-heeled boots. Around Sabrina's right wrist was a stunning silver bracelet with a small blue marble-like stone fitted into the top that Malva recognized was a keystone.

Malva had to admit that Sabrina wasn't like what she expected, though she had heard rumors that the gym leader's personality was a bit twisted. Sabrina's powers certainly turned out to be everything that Malva had heard though. This gave the pink-haired reporter hope that Sabrina was just the person she needed.

"So… that was pretty wild the way you lifted me in the air like that," Malva spoke. "Guess I'm lucky that you didn't throw me into a building or something."

"Actually if I was truly angry, I might've turned you into a doll," Sabrina casually remarked as she continued eating.

Malva flinched as some of the color drained from her face. "Um… seriously."

"Indeed. I used to have quite a collection dolls that were originally people," Sabrina remarked. "One of them was my own mother. The others of course were opponents I defeated at my gym. Of course I was a very different person back then."

Malva couldn't tell if Sabrina was being serious or simply screwing with her. In a way, the elegant-looking woman sitting before her seemed like a child. After all, usually only little kids made such an outrageous tantrum when being denied ice cream.

"State your business," Sabrina spoke, shaking Malva from her thoughts.

"Huh?" Malva responded.

"You said you had something important to talk to me about," Sabrina reminded her. "What was it?"

"Uh… right. Where to being?" Malva spoke. "You've heard of Lysandre from the Kalos Region, right?"

"Everyone has," Sabrina indifferently responded. "His attack on Lumios City weeks ago was all over the news, as was how he somehow had control over the Legendary Pokemon, Zygarde."

"And you know about how Zygarde was defeated, right?" Malva asked.

"I heard that it was defeated by an unidentified Pokemon controlled by a mysterious trainer," Sabrina answered.

"You didn't see the actual news footage of the battle?" Malva asked.

"At the time I was occupied with a gym battle," Sabrina replied.

"So then you have no idea," Malva realized. "The Pokemon that defeated Zygarde was a Mewtwo."

This caused Sabrina to finally stop eating her frozen treat. "Mewtwo?"

"The second Mewtwo ever created," Malva answered. "And her mysterious trainer is a human psychic with powers a lot like yours. She's not just any psychic though, she's a clone."

Sabrina put down her spoon. "Tell me everything you know."

"I used to work with Lysandre as part of his organization, Team Flare," Malva began. "Of course I never knew anything about his plan to use Zygarde to destroy the world until it was too late. Anyway, one of Lysandre's early experiments was to create synthetic Mega Stones. He successfully managed to make two stones, but none of them seemed to work with any known Pokemon. Lysandre ran many simulations and discovered that the Pokemon that came closest to being compatible with the two stones was Mew, which led him to think that they might work with Mewtwo.

"Lysandre eventually sought out Mewtwo's creator, Dr. Ichiro Fuji and convinced him to recreate his original experiments so he'd have his own Mewtwo to test the stones on. Unfortunately Dr. Fuji not only delivered, he took things a step too far and made a human clone as this Mewtwo's trainer, Amber Drei. Dr. Fuji made Amber using the DNA of his dead daughter and genes taken from you and other human psychics like Caitlin of the Unova Elite Four."

"And Amber Drei and this second Mewtwo turned against their creator, didn't they?" Sabrina deduced.

"Pretty much," Malva confirmed. "And the ironic thing is that the synthetic Mega Stone that Lysandre gave to Dr. Fuji worked. Amber's Mewtwo, Zwei is capable of Mega Evolution."

"So why come to me about all this?" Sabrina asked.

"Amber and Zwei are on the loose, and they have some plan to enslave the human race or something," Malva answered. "My associates and I think you're our best bet to stop them."

"Because of my psychic powers?" Sabrina asked.

"That, and because we think you're friends with the original Mewtwo," Malva told her. "A lot of Mewtwo sightings seem to take place here in this city, and we think the reason is because you and it are good friends. If we're right, you and the original Mewtwo are our best bet of stopping Amber and Zwei."

"…You have no proof that I know the original Mewtwo," Sabrina pointed out.

"No I don't. Me being here is a gamble," Malva admitted. "Of course your reaction just now makes me think that I'm probably right. Either way, I'm willing to take the chance." The pinkette used her leg to push her metal case under the table and over to Sabrina. "That case contains the other synthetic Mega Stone that Lysandre created. If you and Mewtwo have the kind of bond I think you do, the two of you should be able to use it."

"You must be desperate if you're willing to entrust something so important to me based on nothing more than rumors," Sabrina observed.

"Damn straight," Malva confirmed as she got up. "My associates and I will be in touch."

Malva exited the ice cream shop with her vanilla cone still in hand. After a moment, Sabrina finally went back to eating her Sunday and started to think more about everything that Malva had told her.

* * *

It was fairly early at night as Sabrina sat in her living room, staring at the metal case that Malva had left for her. The problem was that Sabrina didn't believe Malva's story. In fact she believed every word of it. Sabrina's problem was figuring out just what to do with the information that had been given to her. She couldn't decide if it was best to tell Mewtwo about this news, or if it would be better if he didn't know.

Sabrina knew that on the one hand, Mewtwo had a right to know that another of his kind existed. In fact the odds were good that he'd find out on his own eventually. What troubled Sabrina though was what Mewtwo would do with this information once it was given to him. Would he do as Malva hoped and fight against the other Mewtwo and her partner, or would he side with them in whatever they had planned for the world? A strong part of Sabrina believed that Mewtwo would ultimately do the right thing, but the other part that doubted him couldn't quite be ignored.

Just as Sabrina was about to get up for something to drink before starting the next round of her internal debate, she suddenly felt a strong presence calling out from within the city. It was Mewtwo, and he was calling out with his psychic powers as though he were speaking over an intercom to tell someone that they had left their lights on in the parking lot. Sabrina decided that it was best to see why Mewtwo was calling out. She got off the couch and picked the metal case off the coffee table. Then with a flash of blue light she teleported to Mewtwo's location.

Sabrina ended up on the very top of the Silph Co. building. She quickly spotted Mewtwo standing near the roof's edge looking out over the city.

Mewtwo looked back at Sabrina as she walked towards him. "Sabrina… you're not the person I was expecting to come."

"Do you think I could ignore such a strong psychic call here in the city?" Sabrina asked. "What are you doing? You usually like to keep your presence totally hidden, but now you're broadcasting your presence to the world. What's going on?"

Mewtwo looked back out towards the city. "Last night… I spoke with the man who created me. He was alive, in Lavender Town… at least until now. He passed on because of an illness."

"How did you even know he was there?" Sabrina asked.

"His father told me when I was there earlier in the morning," Mewtwo explained. "He's the old man I've been visiting since that incident at the Tower of Memories with those sisters."

"You mean Mayor Fuji?" Sabrina responded. "I forgot that his son was the scientist who created you."

"I wanted to ask Dr. Fuji some questions regarding why he created me," Mewtwo continued. "Just before he died though, he told me that he had repeated his experiments. Sabrina… I am no longer the only one of my kind in the world. Another Mewtwo now exists."

"So you were calling out to it," Sabrina realized.

"I've thought about it all day, and I decided that I wanted to get to know this other member of my species," Mewtwo explained as he turned back to face her. "I want this other Mewtwo to know that it is not alone in this world."

"But why call to it here?" Sabrina asked.

"Because I wanted it to meet you as well," Mewtwo answered. "I want it to know about you and the other humans who I have developed a bond with."

Upon hearing that, Sabrina found that the debate she had been having with herself had been resolved. "Mewtwo, there's more about all this that you should know. Earlier today, a woman named Malva approached me and told me about the other Mewtwo. There's one about it that Dr. Fuji didn't tell you."

"Mewtwo Ein!" a voice spoke before Sabrina could finish. The two looked to see a young woman with long wavy green hair dressed in black, standing a few feet away from there they were. A large smile was on the young woman's face.

"Who are you?" Mewtwo asked.

The woman took off the visor-like sunglasses she had on, revealing her grey eyes. Mewtwo couldn't help but find the young woman's face to be familiar somehow. Then suddenly the psychic feline realized that it was the face of someone he knew long ago. The face was much older, but there was no mistaking who it belonged to.

Mewtwo flew past Sabrina and a little closer to the green-haired woman. "It can't be… Amber?"

The green-haired woman chuckled. "Of course. I shouldn't be surprised that you would know my name, as it also belonged to someone else you probably knew. I am Amber Drei. I'm the second clone that Dr. Fuji made of his late daughter."

"So… he not only made another of my kind, but… he also recreated his daughter," an astounded Mewtwo observed.

"I understand that the first clone Dr. Fuji made of Amber didn't survive," Amber recalled. "That must have been hard for you, assuming that you and she were as close as Zwei and I are. But you don't have to be as lonely anymore."

"Mewtwo! This woman was whom I was about to tell you about," Sabrina informed him. "Malva told me that Dr. Fuji also made a psychic human to act as the other Mewtwo's partner."

"A psychic?" Mewtwo asked, as he looked Amber over. "He gave you powers like mine?"

"That was apparently how I was able to survive the cloning process while my 'older sister' perished," Amber explained. "Taking what he had learned from his original experiment with you, Dr. Fuji determined that beings with immense psychic powers have a much greater life force. So he took the last remaining sample of DNA he had from his daughter and spliced in the genes from human psychics such as Sabrina over there."

"Why did he make you?" Mewtwo asked. "Was he hoping to somehow revive his dead daughter through you?"

"No… he made just to see if he could," Amber answered. "And to help him with the second phase of his experiment with his other creation." She then pulled out a pokeball from her long coat. "But enough about me. I'm sure you're eager to meet the other member of your species. Come on out, Zwei!"

Bursting out of the thrown ball was a second Mewtwo with a large metal belt around her waist. A smile came to the other psychic feline's face when she saw her male counterpart.

"Hello Mewtwo Ein," Zwei's female voice spoke. "You have no idea how long Amber and I have been waiting for this day."

"So it's true," Mewtwo spoke as he flew closer to Zwei. "Another of my kind truly exists."

"And now that we've finally found each other, we can begin to reshape the world," Amber spoke.

"Reshape the world?" Mewtwo repeated with a quirked brow. "What do you mean?"

"Surly you realize how wrong the current world is," Zwei told him. "Pokemon like us, Pokemon created by humans, are oppressed and treated as mere objects and tools."

"That is how we were treated by Dr. Fuji," Amber added. "He must have treated you that way as well. The three of us will remake this world so that humans and naturally born Pokemon alike will bow before those of us made by human hands. With our united powers, no force on this world can stop us!"

"…I see," Mewtwo spoke as he suddenly backed away from the two and went over to Sabrina. "I don't blame either of you for having such an outlook on the world. In fact I am the only one who can truly understand what you feel, because I felt it myself. You are correct. Our creator saw me as nothing more than an experiment, and the man who funded his work viewed me only as a weapon he could use to further his own agenda. Like you I even once tried to remake the world into a paradise where only beings like us existed. But I realized I was wrong to do that."

A look of shock appeared on Amber's face. "I don't understand… you tried to remake this horrible world and didn't? Why?"

"Because I was only acting out of anger, just as the two of you are," Mewtwo answered. "But then I met a young human who was willing to give his life for any Pokemon, whether it was born or created. And through him, I met other humans who were not as evil as the ones who used me; humans like Sabrina. Amber, Zwei, I understand your rage. But you both are still quite young and have much to learn about the world. I can teach you what this world his truly like."

Amber put her sunglasses back on. "I see… you have no idea how much it pains me to hear you say such things, Mewtwo Ein. Not long ago, someone told me that you did think this way, but I refused to believe her. But now… I see that Zwei and I have no choice."

"No choice but to do what?" Mewtwo asked.

"To make you submit to our will!" Zwei spoke as she suddenly formed a ball of crackling black energy between her hands. "Shadow Ball!"

Zwei launched the projectile from her hands at Mewtwo. Mewtwo quickly flew to the left and managed to avoid the Shadow Ball at the last second. The sphere continued on its path and shattered the windows of one of the nearby buildings.

Meanwhile Mewtwo moved to another position and formed a sphere of blue light between his hands. "Aura Sphere!"

Mewtwo launched the ball of light at his opponent. The attack struck Zwei in the left cheek and knocked her head back slightly. Zwei merely brushed it off like it was nothing and glared at Mewtwo.

"Did you really think a paltry attack like that could defeat me?" Zwei asked.

"I'm not trying to defeat you, but to reason with you!" Mewtwo told her. "I'm trying to make you understand that you're wrong about this world!"

"What I understand that this world has somehow poisoned your mind!" Zwei declared. "There's no other explanation for why you would oppose us!"

"You leave us no other choice, Mewtwo Ein!" Amber spoke as she levitated into the air to float behind Zwei. "We must fight and capture you in order to cure you of this delusion you're under! Experience our true power!"

Both the keystone in Amber's metal choker lit up along with the Mega Stone in Zwei's belt. Suddenly Zwei's body gave off a blinding purple flash in the shape of a Y. The light faded to reveal Zwei in her much shorter Mega form as a multicolored DNA helix glowed briefly above her head. Zwei then formed another Shadow Ball between her hands and hurled it at Mewtwo with incredible speed. The ball hit Mewtwo in the chest and hurled him into the roof of the building with enough force to leave a crater.

After a moment, Mewtwo got back to his feet and looked at Amber and Zwei with shock and awe. "What… is this power?"

"This is the true power of our bond," Zwei and Amber declared together. "The likes of Palkia, Landorous and Zygarde have fallen before us in this form. You have no choice but to submit to us!"

Sabrina set the metal case she had been carrying down on the ground and opened it up, revealing its contents. Inside was a metal belt like the one Zwei had been wearing, but with a blue stone fitted into the buckle. Sabrina snapped her fingers, and the belt vanished from the case, reappeared around Mewtwo's waist a second later. The appearance of the belt caused Amber and Zwei to pause.

"What is this?" Mewtwo asked as he looked at the belt.

"Mewtwo! That belt is fitted with an artificial Mega Stone that Malva gave me!" Sabrina explained. "Amber and Zwei have a similar Mega Stone, which is how Zwei was able to Mega Evolve!"

"I see… these stones are the reason why Dr. Fuji created Amber," Mewtwo deduced. "You told me once that Mega Evolution can only be triggered by the bond between a Pokemon and its trainer."

Sabrina nodded and held up her wrist with the bracelet holding a keystone. "You and I have developed a fairly strong bond over the years. Let's see just how strong that bond is."

"Very well," Mewtwo replied as he levitated into the air. "With you and I working together, we shall show my fellow creations of Dr. Fuji just how wrong they are about the world!"

Sabrina's keystone lit up, and after a moment Mewtwo's Mega Stone began to glow as well. Mewtwo cried out before his body let off a blinding flash of blue light in the shape of an X. In moments the light finally faded to reveal Mewtwo in a new form. He had become over seven feet tall and his eyes had turned a piercing blue. The ear-like horns on his head had become longer and pointer, and extended into V-shaped ridges on his forehead. A second tube had formed on the back of the feline's neck, and covering his chest and shoulders like armor were two purple growths. His arms and legs had grown longer and thicker along with his fingers and toes, with a pair of raised ridges having formed on each forearm and thigh. Mewtwo's tail had grown much shorter and ridged, and had a curled tip at the end. A multicolored DNA helix flashed above Mewtwo's head as his transformation finished.

Meanwhile, Sabrina's eyes had started to glow blue. She levitated into the air and then moved to hover behind Mewtwo.

"How is this possible?" a stunned Zwei and Amber asked.

"Clearly the two of you have much to learn," Mewtwo and Sabrina spoke. "And though it pains us to fight you, your attitude leaves us no other choice. We will crush you!"

TO BE CONTINUED

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I had a real blast finally writing this episode showing Amber and Zwei's first encounter with the original Mewtwo. Earlier during these past couple of weeks as I reread the previous stories in this "collection" and _Mewtwo Zwei_ , I had some pretty interesting insights about Amber's character, which sort of helped me write this episode and also showed some insights about Mewtwo. The thing I realized about Amber is that even though she's physically in her twenties, and even though Dr. Fuji programmed her brain with a vast amount of knowledge and information, she's basically still a kid who doesn't know what the world is really like. I mean she isn't even a year old, and there's still a lot about life that's she's yet to experience.

You know a while back after I had gotten this "collection" started, I had gotten a pretty nasty review for the first episode with Magearna about how Amber came onto Quinton like that. Well the thing about that scene was (and I don't think this registered this consciously at the time, or if I did, I pretty much had forgotten about it) Amber was simply exploring her sexuality. It was something she had never experienced before, and realizing she had an attraction to Quinton, she found she was curious about those feelings. Of course I don't really need to explain myself to that reviewer. I only bring it up because it was part of the revelation I had about Amber's character.

Anyway, Zwei is pretty much the same as Amber, also more or less a kid. And as kids, I think we all see the world in kind of a black and white way. Everyone's a good guy or a bad guy, and there's no grey area in between. The original Mewtwo saw the world in the same way they did after he was created, but his encounters with Ash helped him to see that the world was a lot more complex. In this episode, we got to see how much older and wiser Mewtwo has become about the world. He still has that same savage side that he's always had, but he's still mellowed a bit. Unfortunately for Mewtwo, his more enlightened views about the world and humans is a huge betrayal to Amber and Zwei, shattering the hero image that they've always had of him and classifying him as a "bad guy" in their view.

It was also pretty fun to write for Sabrina in this story again. My favorite scene in this episode is the one where she flings Malva into the air for getting in the way of her ice cream break. I still wish I had done more stuff with Sabrina in this AU from the beginning. Anyway, it occurred to me as I was writing this author's note that that scene seemed to show that Sabrina still has something of a childish side, or it just shows that she's become more human since her original appearance in the anime. Of course in the beginning, Sabrina was more or less just as much a child as Mewtwo was in the beginning, and just as much a child as Amber and Zwei are both right now.

In the anime, Sabrina was more or less a child who never grew up. Her obsession with training her powers caused her personality to split into an emotionless battle junkie and a little girl who always wants to play, and if you think about it, the child side was the half of her personality that was in control. So now we see her in this modest story I've written as being more mature. Her social skills are a little... awkward, but she's no longer the out of control little girl constantly causing trouble. Thinking about all this makes the battle started in this episode pretty interesting. One way to look at it is a battle of maturity against "childishness", for lack of a better word (if there is a better word, it escapes me). The other way to see this battle is Sabrina and Mewtwo essentially battling younger versions of themselves.

Well, I think I've rambled on long enough. So the next installment of this "collection" will be the last one. So until next time, please review and let me know what you think.


	10. Mewtwo XY, Part 2

**Author's Note:** Well, we've finally come to the last episode of this former oneshot collection. I hope everyone enjoys the conclusion to Sabrina and Mewtwo's battle with Amber and Zwei.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon.

* * *

Mewtwo XY, Part 2

Malva was on her way to the Saffron Train Station to meet with someone when she saw a familiar Y-shaped flash of purple light in the night sky above the Silph Co. building. She wasn't the only one to spot the flash though. Others who were out on the street at the time also noticed it and stopped to wonder what it was. A few moments later there was an equally bright flash of blue light in the shape of an X above the building. The bystanders out on the street were at a total loss as to what the flashes were from, but Malva knew that they could only have come from one thing.

The pink-haired reporter reached into her bag and pulled out a pair of electronic binoculars she had brought with and pointed them towards Silph Co. She saw Zwei and Amber fly away from the buildings roof, with Mewtwo and Sabrina flying close after them. As the four got away from the building, Mewtwo fired an Aura Sphere from his hands that struck Zwei in her left hip, knocking her off her flight path. Amber's body jerked as though she had been the one hit by the attack. Amber and Zwei quickly recovered though, and Zwei fired a Shadow Ball that struck Mewtwo in the chest.

"Malva!" a familiar voice spoke. Malva pulled her eyes from her binoculars to see Alain Grant and Mairin Trudeau running towards her.

"I was just on my way to meet with you guys," Malva told them. "The show we were hoping would happen has just started."

"We know. Alain and I saw the lights as we were coming out of the station," Mairin spoke. "I guess this means that Sabrina got the other Mega Stone to the original Mewtwo."

"She was indeed," Malva confirmed as she continued to watch the battle through her binoculars. "And right now she and Mewtwo are locked in battle with Amber and Zwei."

"Do you think that Sabrina and Mewtwo can win?" Alain asked.

"Hard to say. Right now we hardly know anything about Mewtwo's new form," Malva pointed out. "It certainly looks a lot different than Zwei's Mega form though."

"We should get down there so we can assist Sabrina and Mewtwo if needed," Alain suggested.

"I'm not sure there's much we can add to a fight like this," Malva told him. "In fact, we'd probably only get in the way. Then again, us being there probably wouldn't hurt. Let's go!"

With that, Malva and the others headed off towards the Silph Co. building as fast as they could.

* * *

After hitting Mewtwo in the chest with a Shadow Ball attack, Zwei fired an Ice Beam from her hands that struck Mewtwo in the right shoulder, causing a patch of ice to form on his armor. Mewtwo flexed his body and caused the ice to shatter. He floated there for a moment with Sabrina behind him, breathing heavily as he tried to recover from Zwei's last two attacks. Sabrina was breathing heavily too as blood was dripping from her nose.

"You may have achieved the power of Mega Evolution, but you're still no match for us!" Zwei and Amber declared. "We are far beyond anything you can compete with!"

"Don't underestimate us!" Mewtwo and Sabrina responded.

Mewtwo's right hand formed into fist that crackled with blue electricity. As he swung his electrified fist, his arm stretched like rubber towards Zwei and delivered a powerful uppercut that flipped her backward through the air three times. Amber's head jerked back as if she had been clocked in the jaw as well, and blood started to drip from her nose. Mewtwo zoomed towards Zwei to deliver another blow, but just as he got in striking ranger Zwei recovered and her eyes began to glow red. Mewtwo's body totally froze and started to give off a feint red aura.

Zwei pushed her arms forward and suddenly Mewtwo was hurled into the window of a nearby building. Sabrina cried out in pain and jerked as though something had hit her in the back, and more blood started to drip from her nose. The green-haired gym leader recovered though and glared at Amber and Zwei as veins on her forehead started to bulge. A second later, Mewtwo zoomed out of the building towards Zwei. Trailing behind Mewtwo was a large wooden desk that was glowing with a blue aura.

With a wave of his hand, Mewtwo hurled the floating desk towards Zwei, striking her in the side of the head and causing it to shatter to bits. Amber's body reacted as though the table had hit her as well, and even more blood started to drip from her nose. Amber glared back at Sabrina and Mewtwo as veins started to bulge on her forehead. Zwei then hurled another Shadow Ball towards Mewtwo, only for Mewtwo to fly to the left to avoid it, leaving a trail of afterimages in his wake. Mewtwo's right arm then stretched like rubber and struck Zwei in the stomach with another Thunder Punch attack, causing Amber to cry out and double over as though she had been the one hit in the stomach.

"We don't have to do this!" Mewtwo and Sabrina told them. "If you'll just back down, we can show you that this world is not as evil as you think it is."

"We will… not give up," Zwei and Amber declared as they recovered from the last attack. "One way or another, we will… make you submit to us!"

With that, Zwei hurled another Shadow Ball from her right hand, striking Mewtwo in the stomach. She then followed up with another Shadow Ball from her left hand that struck him in the right shoulder. Zwei then began pummeling Mewtwo with a barrage of Shadow Balls from both hands, striking several parts of his body. Sabrina felt the blow of each Shadow Ball on her own body. After a few moments, the barrage ended, but as Mewtwo and Sabrina were trying to catch their breath, Zwei raised her hands above her head and formed another massive Shadow Ball between them.

Zwei and Amber cried out as Zwei hurled the ball at Mewtwo. At the last moment, the veins on Sabrina's forehead bulged out more as she snapped her fingers. Mewtwo vanished with a flash of blue light, and the giant Shadow Ball zoomed downward and struck the street below, nearly hitting an oncoming car. As Zwei and Amber tried to figure out what happened, Mewtwo suddenly reappeared behind Zwei.

"Impressive," Mewtwo and Sabrina praised. "But not quite good enough!"

Mewtwo then cried out as he began to strike Zwei with a fury of Thunder Punch attacks all over her body. His arms were moving with such speed and fury that it seemed like he had more than two. Amber felt the blow of every single punch on her own body. Eventually the barrage ended with a powerful Thunder Punch to Zwei's chest that caused a blinding electrical flash. The force of the last punch caused Amber to cough up a little blood. Meanwhile Zwei had been knocked back a few feet and suddenly seemed to have a little trouble moving her body, as did Amber.

"Just give up!" Mewtwo and Sabrina told their opponents. "There's no point at all to this battle!"

"Yes… there is," Zwei and Amber told them. "We're going to get you to work with us, Mewtwo Ein! Once we defeat you, you'll have no choice but to submit to us!"

"Do you even hear yourselves as you speak?" Mewtwo and Sabrina asked. "Your desire to use me as a tool makes you no different from Dr. Fuji or the other humans who you want to crush under your thumb!"

Zwei and Amber were both stunned by this comparison. "You… you really accuse us of being like them?"

"Know that even if you managed to capture me, I would never submit to your will," Mewtwo and Sabrina responded together. "And you trying to use me as a slave… as a weapon… is just something that Dr. Fuji would've done."

"Yes… you're right," Zwei and Amber spoke. "We would never fall to their level. However… since you seem intent on opposing our goals, then we have no choice but to eliminate you!"

Zwei then struck Mewtwo in the chest with an Ice Beam that encased his entire torso in ice. Mewtwo cried out and flexed his body, shattering the ice to pieces. He then stretched his arm like rubber again and struck Zwei in the torso with another Thunder Punch.

"It seems we have no choice but to try and beat sense into you both," Mewtwo and Sabrina observed. "In that case, we shall show you no mercy."

* * *

Alain, Mairin and Malva finally made it to the area around the Silph Co. building where the battle was taking place. High in the sky above, Mewtwo and Zwei were still trading blows. Malva got out her binoculars to get a closer look. Through them she saw Zwei hit Mewtwo in the stomach with another Shadow Ball. The pinkette also noticed how ragged that both psychic felines and their partners appeared to be.

"Looks like they've both taken some pretty serious hits," Malva told Alain and Mairin as she continued to look. "It's pretty hard to tell which of them is going to win."

"Perhaps I should send in Charizard to give the original Mewtwo some backup," Alain suggested.

"That might not be a good idea," Malva told him. "With the attacks those two are launching at each other, Charizard would probably only get hurt in the crossfire. I know you won't like what I'm about to tell you, but all we can do right now is wait and see how this thing plays out."

"You may be right," Alain admitted. "Then again, if this battle gets too out of control, those Pokemon could end up leveling this whole city."

"Actually, it probably won't get that far," Malva told him. "In fact if my instincts are right, this battle about to come to an end right now."

* * *

Mewtwo stretched his right arm and struck Zwei in the face with another Thunder Punch. He then launched another Aura Sphere that struck Zwei in the chest and knocked both her and Amber back.

"Give it up!" Mewtwo and Sabrina told them. "The paralysis we inflicted on you with our earlier attacks has obviously slowed you down. You can't last much longer."

"We will… never yield to you!" Zwei and Amber cried out.

Zwei spread her arms and formed a gigantic ball of purple light four times the size of her body.

"Very well then!" Mewtwo and Sabrina spoke as Mewtwo spread his own arms.

A massive ball of blue light about the same size as the energy ball Zwei had formed appeared in front of Mewtwo. Down on the ground, Alain and the others stood frozen, wondering what might happen if those two attacks were to collide with one another. Suddenly Amber and Zwei cried out, and Zwei's body turned a glowing gold along with Amber's hair. The energy ball Zwei had formed had also turned gold and expanded to twice its original size. Just then, Mewtwo and Sabrina also cried out, and the greyish-purple parts of Mewtwo's body turned gold, along with Sabrina's hair. The energy ball that Mewtwo had created turned gold as well and grew to the same size and Zwei's.

"Psystrike!" the four combatants cried out as the launched the energy spheres at one another.

The two Psystrike attacks ended up colliding with one another, creating a blinding explosion of light that shattered all the windows of the surrounding buildings. Down on the ground, Alain and the others were forced to cover their eyes. When the light finally cleared, Alain looked up and saw Sabrina and Mewtwo falling from the sky. Both were unconscious, and Mewtwo had regressed to his original form. Alain also saw an unconscious Amber and Zwei falling down after them. Like Mewtwo, Zwei had returned to her original form as well.

"Charizard!" Alain called as he tossed out a pokeball. "Catch Sabrina and Mewtwo!"

The ball burst open and Alain's faithful fire dragon flew up into the sky at incredible speed. In one quick pass, Charizard caught Sabrina on his back and then grabbed Mewtwo by the wrist with both claws. He then gently landed back down next to Alain and the others, setting the unconscious feline next to him. Alain came and got Sabrina, setting her down next to Mewtwo.

"What about Amber and Zwei?" Mairin asked.

Alain was about to send Charizard to get them with the three all looked up to see Amber and Zwei hovering in midair as if held by an invisible force. Their bodies both gave off a feint blue aura.

"What's going on?" Alain asked.

Suddenly Amber and Zwei seemed to be pulled towards one of the surrounding buildings. Malva got her binoculars back out and looked towards the roof of the building the duo was heading for. Standing on the roof's edge was a bipedal creature resembling a tapir. Its upper half was an orange-yellow, while its lower half was a dark-brown. The creature was pulling its arms towards itself as if pulling in Amber and Zwei by a pair of invisible ropes.

"Someone's having a Drowzee use Psychic to rescue Amber and Zwei," Malva observed.

"But who?" Mairin asked.

"No idea," Malva answered. "But clearly we weren't the only ones who've been watching this battle."

* * *

Standing behind Drowzee up on the roof were two men dressed in white futuristic armor. Totally covering their heads were white helmets that had gold visors and vents like those of a gasmask over the mouth. Decorating the armor on their chests was a gold symbol similar to the letter A. The two armored men watched as Drowzee turned and gently set Amber and Zwei on the roof before their feet.

"Well, we got 'em," one of the armored men spoke as he called Drowzee back to its pokeball. "Boy, they sure got pretty messed up in that fight."

"I'll say," the second armored man agreed. "Hey, should we grab the other Mewtwo and that gym leader too?"

"Nah. They've already fallen out of our hands," the first armored man replied. "And we have strict orders to keep our presence as secret as possible. We'd only be exposing ourselves if we tried to retrieve them. Besides, President Lusamine is only interested in Amber Drei and her Mewtwo."

"Good point," the second armored man realized. "Well, I better alert Chief Faba." He then pressed a button on the small control panel built into the armor on his left wrist. "Chief? This is Observation Team Beta. The battle between Mewtwo Zwei and the original Mewtwo has concluded. We've retrieved both Mewtwo Zwei and Amber Drei."

 _"What's their condition?"_ Faba's voice asked through the speaker.

"They're both in pretty rough shape," the second armored man answered. "Mewtwo Zwei received some pretty nasty hits from the original, and Amber Drei seems to have received the same or similar injuries due to the psychic link they seem to share."

 _"I see. Very well. Take them back to our ship in Vermillion Harbor and head back to the Paradise as soon as possible,"_ Faba ordered. _"I'll notify the ship's medical team to begin treatment on them as soon as you arrive."_

"Understood," the second armored man replied before switching off the communicator. He then tossed out a pokeball hanging from his belt. "Let's go, Abra!"

Bursting out of the thrown ball was a small bipedal creature with a large yellow-brown kite-shaped head almost like that of a cat or a fox. Its eyes were closed as if asleep, and it had a pale-yellow snout. The creature's body was segmented, with black skin visible at its joints and around its neck. Its chest was brown, and it had what seemed to be large pieces of brown armor covering its shoulders. Its hands and feet each had three digits, and on its rear end was a long thick tail with a thin brown band near the tip.

"Use Teleport!" the second armored man commanded.

Abra's eyes opened slightly, revealing blue lights behind the closed lids. A second later, the five vanished from the rood with a flash of blue light.

* * *

Shortly after the battle, Malva made a few calls to get medical attention for Sabrina and Mewtwo. One of those calls had been to Professor Sycamore, who had already been on his way to meet with Alain and the others at the time. Within the course of an hour, Sabrina and Mewtwo had been taken the local hospital and placed in a wing that had been quickly sealed off to the public. Out of respect for Mewtwo, both Malva and Professor Sycamore did everything possible to keep the duo's presence at the hospital a secret. A Pokemon medical team lead by a top Nurse Joy had been quickly dispatched to the hospital to begin Mewtwo's treatment.

Meanwhile, news of Mewtwo's battle with Zwei had spread like wildfire. The destruction caused by their battle had been impossible to hide, though nobody outside those who had actually been watching it knew what had caused it. There were many rumors of course, such as the theory of a malfunctioning new invention at Silph Co. had gotten out of the lab and exploded, but hardly anyone knew the truth. Malva meanwhile was doing everything she could to bury any evidence out there identifying Mewtwo and Zwei. Doing so went against everything that a reporter was, but Malva knew that certain stories needed to be buried.

That morning, Malva, Alain, Mairin and Professor Sycamore were in the hospital room Sabrina shared with Mewtwo. Sabrina was in a regular hospital bed, while Mewtwo was inside a metal bed that almost resembling an old iron lung. Both Mewtwo and Sabrina were still unconscious. Also present in the room was Sabrina's mother, who Malva had promptly been informed about her daughter's condition. Malva had also contacted Sabrina's father, but he couldn't be there due to being out of town on business.

Professor Sycamore looked at the unconscious Mewtwo as the small T.V. in the room blared away with the news. "To think that our plan ended up being for nothing."

"Not entirely," Malva told him from the chair where she was sitting. "The battle was a draw. Maybe with a bit more training, Sabrina and Mewtwo might be able to beat them next time."

"I really wish you people wouldn't talk about such things with my daughter still in this condition," Sabrina's mother told them. "I know that this Amber Drei and her Mewtwo are still a problem, but my daughter nearly lost her life!"

"Yes, of course," Professor Sycamore responded as he turned to face her. "Forgive our insensitiveness."

"Sir! You can't be back here!" a voice called from the hallway.

Dashing into the room suddenly was a man with slightly long blonde hair. He had a thick black headband on his head, along with a purple long-sleeved shirt and long black pants.

As the man came into the room and went over to Sabrina's bed, a brown-haired nurse came in after him. "I'm sorry. I couldn't stop him."

"It's okay," Sabrina's mother told the nurse. "This is my daughter's boyfriend, Morty."

"Wait, as in Morty of the Ecruteak City Gym in Johto?" Malva asked.

"How is she?" Morty asked Sabrina's mother.

"The doctor say's she'll be fine," she answered. "It seems that Sabrina's body experienced a sort of backlash from the damage Mewtwo took in battle due to the psychic link they had."

"Sabrina will be fine with some rest," Professor Sycamore added.

"And just what kind of battle were Sabrina and Mewtwo involved in?" Morty demanded to know. "What opponent could put them in this sort of condition?"

"They were facing another Mewtwo and its trainer," Alain answered. "A human psychic named Amber Drei."

"Another… Mewtwo?" Morty asked as he blinked in surprise. "How is that even possible?"

"It's a long story," Malva interjected. "The short version is that Mewtwo's creator had repeated his work, and not only made a second Mewtwo, but also a psychically-powered clone of his dead daughter to act as that Mewtwo's trainer."

"And just how long have this Amber Drei and the other Mewtwo been on the loose?" Morty asked.

"For a few months now," Alain admitted. "We've been trying to capture them, but we've had no luck. They're just… too strong."

"Having your girlfriend and the original Mewtwo fight them seemed like our best shot to take them down," Malva added. "But the battle still ended in a draw. Quite frankly, it's starting to look like nothing is strong enough to defeat Amber Drei."

"The Delta," Mairin suddenly spoke.

"What's that?" Alain asked.

"Oh, nothing really. I was just remembering something that happened right after Amber and Zwei beat Zygarde," Mairin explained. "There was this homeless guy who had been watching the battle. He said something about how only the power of something called the Delta could beat Amber and Zwei. I have no idea what he meant though."

"Mairin, dear. That man you met was probably didn't know what he was talking about," Malva told her. "He was probably just a crazy person living under a bridge somewhere."

"Yeah. I guess you're right," Mairin sadly agreed. "He didn't even seem to notice I was there. Plus he started talking to himself about some weird stuff as he left."

Morty meanwhile seemed to take everything Mairin had said about the mysterious Delta quite seriously. "Excuse me. I need to make a few calls."

With that, Morty quickly left the room. Soon after, the brown-haired nurse from before reentered the room with a brown-haired man who seemed to be in his early forties. The man's hair was neatly cut, and he had on an iron-grey suit with black lines running down the sides of the arm and legs, along with a white shirt and a red tie. Gold cufflinks adorned the sleeves of the coat, and on the breast pocket was an odd shield-like crest. Adorning the ring finger of the man's right hand was a gold ring baring the same crest.

"Excuse me. This gentleman insisted on coming in to meet with all of you," the nurse informed the group. "He claims to be from a Team Plasma."

"Randle Applegate, head of the newly commissioned Team Plasma field office here in the Kanto Region," the brown-haired man spoke in a refined British accent as he walked into the room. He paused when he saw the bed containing Mewtwo. "Good lord! To think I'm seeing the legendary Mewtwo with my own eyes. Extraordinary."

"Wait, wait. You're really with Team Plasma?" Malva asked with a raised eyebrow as she rose from her chair. "But you're dressed like a regular businessman."

At this, Randle chuckled. "Yes. When Lord N decided to take our organization international, he decided to redesign our uniforms to look less colorful so that the public would take us more seriously."

"Well, that was a good call," Malva admitted. "Your old uniforms looked ridiculous."

"Excuse me, but how did you even know that Sabrina and Mewtwo were here in this hospital?" Professor Sycamore asked. "In fact, how does Team Plasma even know about any of this at all?"

"Actually, Lord N has been having us monitor the situation with Ms. Amber Drei and her Mewtwo for quite some time," Randle revealed. "Professor Juniper and her assistant, Ms. Bianca Edmonds made us aware of their existence shortly after Ms. Drei's attack on the town of Lake Perfection. Ever since, Lord N has made us pay special attention to this case."

"And why's the leader of Team Plasma interested in something like this?" Malva asked.

"Mainly because Lord N and the original Mewtwo are old acquaintances," Randle revealed. "They met some years ago during an unseemly incident at an Unova League completion, not our leader's finest moment I'm sorry to admit. But their meeting had a very strong impact on Lord N. In any case, Lord N was afraid that something like this might happen, so he's had our whole organization keep close tabs on everyone involved. I must say this whole business has gotten quite out of hand."

"Your people were watching Sabrina and Mewtwo's battle with Amber?" Alain asked.

"Ah! You must be Alain Grant," Randle responded. "Yes. We had operatives watching the whole battle."

"Then were you the ones who took away Amber and Zwei at the end?" Alain asked.

"Unfortunately, no. Actually, that's part of the reason why I'm here," Randle revealed. "Our operatives witnessed who it was that took Ms. Drei and her Mewtwo away. From the rather colorful uniforms they were dressed in, they were able to identify the abductors as members of the Aether Foundation."

"The Aether Foundation?" a surprised Professor Sycamore repeated.

"Yes. A rather bizarre turn of events, that," Randle replied. "But then the Aether Foundation has always been a rather peculiar group. Our organization has tried making an alliance with them with the past two years due to our similar motivations, but they insist on remaining solitary. If you ask me, the problem lies with their leader, President Lusamine. Her motives seem pure, but there's just something peculiar about that woman."

"Why would the Aether Foundation want Amber and Zwei?" Mairin asked.

"Right now that doesn't matter," Alain answered. "The important thing is that we know that Amber and Zwei are in Alola, or will be pretty soon."

"You want to go there to capture them, don't you?" Mairin realized. "Then I'm coming with you!"

Alain smirked. "I had a feeling you'd say that. Let's get going as soon as possible! I'm not letting Amber get away this time!"

* * *

Lusamine entered a large white medical room in the Aether Paradise and found Faba with a medical team swarming around a pair of beds in the center of the room. The blonde walked up next to Faba to get a closer look at what was going on. Amber and Zwei were on the two beds, still unconscious.

"How are they?" Lusamine asked.

"They will eventually recover with some rest," Faba reported. "Zwei took some rather severe hits from the original Mewtwo, and of course Ms. Amber took the same damage due to their link with each other."

"We should never have allowed such a senseless battle to happen," Lusamine declared.

"With all due respect President, there's not much we could've done to stop it," Faba pointed out. "The power of those Pokemon are currently far beyond anything we can muster."

"Yes… I suppose you're right," Lusamine responded before turning on her heel and heading back for the door. "Let me know as soon as you've transferred them to a private room."

"Of course," Faba replied right as she stepped through the doorway.

The doors slid shut as soon as Lusamine walked through. Out in the hallway, she leaned against the wall and looked up towards the ceiling.

A strange dreamy smile formed on Lusamine's face. "Ah, my darling Amber… I finally have you at last. You've lived a hard life in this ugly world of ours, but I've taken you away from all that. I'll shower you with my love, and with your help we'll escape to a new world together with my sweet beast. It won't be much longer now."

THE END

* * *

 **Afterward:** Well, that does it for this concludes this collection of stories for Amber's storyline in the Pokemon AU. I still kind of wish I had done more stories for this collection, but when I finally came back to this project a few weeks ago I felt like the time had really come to move on. I felt like I was needlessly prolonging the time for Amber and Zwei's encounter with the original Mewtwo, much like how an anime filler arc needlessly prolongs the highly anticipated battle with the story's major villain (people who've seen _Bleach_ will probably know what I'm talking about). So pretty soon now, I'll have another story featuring Amber Drei. The next story will also be a oneshot, but there's no possible way I could've included it as part of this collection because the story is going to be rated M.

Please be on the look out for **Empress of Paradise**

In the meantime, please review and let me know what you think.


End file.
